scarlet letter
n.— «Two senators unveiled a measure Thursday that would require drivers convicted of three drunken-driving offenses in a five-year period, or four within 10 years, to purchase license plates with a number code that police could use to identify them as convicted drunken drivers.…In Ohio, the plates are known as “scarlet letters.”» —“DWI plates would ID offenders” by Amanda Erickson in Albany, N.Y. Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, N.Y. ) June 17, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...
David says that when he was growing up in Akron, Ohio, his family referred to the grassy area between the sidewalk and street as the devil strip. He’s since moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he doesn’t hear that term. There are lots...