Edelstein explained to Montreal Gazette that he discovered the word in a library with some friends, and that it stuck with him in the years since. Recently, friends told him their personalized plates for family names—such as "Roth"—had been denied, surprising Edelstein.
"I found it mind-boggling that innocent-sounding family or place names were being rejected. [...] Then it dawned on me this summer," explained Edelstein. "What would be the most absurd and most disgusting word I could try to register for a plate? I would have put 'furuncular myiasis,' but it was too many characters for a licence plate."
"And yet, they came back 24 hours later, and said congratulations. [...] So, now I have the plate. Great. It will at least drive passersby to their dictionaries—sorry—the internet for its definition."