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Online Voters Name British Vessel 'Boaty McBoatface' (telegraph.co.uk) 221

Posted by EditorDavid from the whatever-floats-your-Boaty dept.
Britain's Natural Environment Research Council conducted an online poll to select the name for their new advanced polar research vessel. Though it cost more than 200 million pounds and represents their fleet's largest and most advanced research vessel, when the voting closed yesterday the clear winner, was the name 'Boaty McBoatface'. The name received over 124,000 votes, while the nearest runner-up -- Poppy-Mai -- received just 34,371, and the fourth-most popular suggestion, "RRS It's Bloody Cold Here," received just 10,679 votes. "I am grateful to everyone who has participated in the competition," Britain's science minister told The Daily Telegraph, though he added "You won't be surprised to know that we want something that fits the mission and captures the spirit of scientific endeavor." The Telegraph takes this as a signal that the ministers "were unlikely to endorse the result."
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Online Voters Name British Vessel 'Boaty McBoatface' More

Online Voters Name British Vessel 'Boaty McBoatface'

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  • My Kingdom for a "Facepalm" Icon (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheEyes ( 1686556 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @06:41PM (#51928399)

    Oh, Internet...

  • I love Boaty! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 17, 2016 @06:54PM (#51928453)

    I think Boaty McBoatface is the best name they could have received. Do they understand how many kids will be attracted to that name? I could see this being a great way to get kids interested in polar science. It will always be Boaty McBoatface to me!

    • I agree: they're passing up the chance to capture a good deal of publicity and the imagination and approval of the public in favor of being stuffy for no benefit at all.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      I think Boaty McBoatface is the best name they could have received. Do they understand how many kids will be attracted to that name? I could see this being a great way to get kids interested in polar science. It will always be Boaty McBoatface to me!

      And having to raise money for science is much easier if they can license the name for various books and other children's products. The boat pays for itself!

    • I preferred the fourth most popular entry: RSS It's cold down here. Very Iain M. Banks.

    • I tend to agree, but really it needs to be manned by raw sailors who leave behind a trail of ruined bars wherever they're on shore leave. The emotional macho kind.

  • They won't pick that name (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Stephen Colbert won a vote to name a bridge after him in Hungary...naturally, the govt said no.

    The boat people will pick a name that had some votes AND is respectable.

  • Row row row your boat...
    Seriously though, this either became a joke long before the poll closed, or it's another poll effected by a person having a scripted laugh.

  • So... just like the outcome of all popular elections.

    • Nope. The ship name contest is non-binding, kind of funny, and nobody is getting hurt, repressed, or otherwise screwed.
      Elections on the other hand...

      • Elections on the other hand seem to be taken about as seriously as that boat name vote by many people.

        It's the only explanation for the current UK government.

  • Iain M Banks (Score:5, Funny)

    by Oxygen99 ( 634999 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @07:05PM (#51928499)
    Can I say the RRS It's Bloody Cold Here has the ring of a Culture ship and would make a nice epitaph for one of the finest science fiction authors of the last fifty years. Given the poll options though, I'd like to suggest the GCU Experiencing a Significant Gravitas Shortfall instead.
    • Mod the fuck up!!

    • I would have suggested "It's frickin' freezin' in here Mr Bigglesworth", which by itself is too long, so one could go with "Bigglesworth".

      But I assumed there was no way that they were ever going to put BMBF on the bow of that ship.

    • This will cheeryou up if you didn't know it already
      http://www.space.com/28445-spa... [space.com]

    • Can I say the RRS It's Bloody Cold Here has the ring of a Culture ship and would make a nice epitaph for one of the finest science fiction authors of the last fifty years. Given the poll options though, I'd like to suggest the GCU Experiencing a Significant Gravitas Shortfall instead.

      Or perhaps "Experiencing a Significant Excess of Gravitis" which might also avoid a lawsuit.

      RIP Ian M. Banks.

  • This is why we can't have nice things! (Score:5, Funny)

    by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @07:06PM (#51928503) Journal

    And you wonder why the American primary votes are only taken under advisement.

    • And then we wonder if that is the case, why did we bother with all the speeches, campaigning, expense, and voting. If the government of the United States is not going to represent the will of the people, then why does it exist? No government is legitimate that does not exist without the consent of the governed.

      You're talking about a different form of government called tyranny.

  • What's wrong with "It's Bloody Cold Here"? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AJWM ( 19027 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @07:12PM (#51928529) Homepage

    Hey, if "Of Course I Still Love You" and "Just Read the Instructions" can be valid boat names (they're the names of SpaceX's landing/recovery ships), then the "It's Bloody Cold Here" is perfectly cromulent.

    Bureaucrats, no f*cking imagination or sense of humour.

    • The best name I've ever heard for a boat was from an episode of The Flintstones (I'd link to the scene, but Youtube wants money for it...). Fred and Barney couldn't agree with the name (one wanted something nautical; the other wanted something about the sea), so they compromized: "Nau-sea."

    • So I take it you would have voted for "RTFM" ?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rastos1 ( 601318 )

      Bureaucrats, no f*cking imagination or sense of humour.

      That happens everywhere. There was an attempt to name a bridge in Budapest (capital of Hungary) after Chuck Norris [wikipedia.org]. A naming pool for a bridge joining Slovakia an Austria was also won by the name "Chuck Norris Bridge". The pool as ignored at the end, but the bridge still has the name on Google Maps.

    • Arctic expeditions are hazardous working environments, I am not sure you want to tell the children that their parent had a terminal accident on something called BoatyMcBoatface.

  • You never know, maybe "Boaty McBoatface" in Gaelic will be something that in English sounds dignified and/or cool.

  • Also, I decided to call my steel steed "Bikey McBikeface".

  • A very long time ago (the Internet was new, so this was a paper poll), UCLA polled for a replacement name for a bookstore/cafeteria/recreation area on the north end of the campus. The responses nearly all varied from snide to obscene. The name selection ended with retaining the working name "North Campus Facility".

  • Do I spy 4chans hand? (Score:5, Informative)

    by wbr1 ( 2538558 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @07:43PM (#51928643)
    See these other trollish hits... http://imgur.com/gallery/gaJxp [imgur.com]

  • Sheesh... (Score:5, Informative)

    by transami ( 202700 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @08:22PM (#51928779) Homepage

    Learn to have some fun. Go with it, and enjoy the laughs.

    Reminds me of the dwarf planet and its moon originally named "Xena" and "Gabrielle". Great names relevant to current culture. But nooooo... the old sticks-in-the-mud decided they had to use long dead Greek gos names. So officially they became "Eris" and "Dysnomia". How many people do you think know those names today? -- I know about them and still I had to look the names up *again*.

    • Well, at least "dysnomia" sounds vaguely appropriate for something whose name was rejected...

    • Actually it should be "Hail Eris, hail Discordia!" or something similar ;D

      https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/... [wikiquote.org]

      I don't remember how the original novels are called in english, though.

    • Re:Sheesh... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 ) on Monday April 18, 2016 @01:12AM (#51929635) Homepage
      That's because in a few years, nobody is going to remember a couple of TV characters from an obscure show. But we'll still be stuck with the stupid names. Just imagine if they had done this in earlier generations...there would be moons called Stu Bailey and Lucas McCain. No idea who those are? Exactly my point. And these shows were FAR more popular and widely watched than the entire output of UPN and WB put together. When we name things, we name them for future generations, not so some internet morons can chuckle for 30 seconds and then move on.
    • Well they have had rules for naming celestial bodies since before you were born, so it's no surprise they chucked suggestions that don't follow the rules.
      Did you ever take astronomy class in school?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

      Eris is actually a great name. She is the greek god of discord, and considering the mess caused by the discovery of the dwarf planet, it is quite fitting. It is one of my preferred "planet" name.
      Xena? Yeah, it sounds cool, she is the heroine of a cult classic series but how is it relevant? It was never intended as a final name anyways.

  • Goaty McGoatSe (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @08:30PM (#51928803) Journal

    Let's vote to rename slashdot.

  • Just name it that, damn it. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 17, 2016 @08:34PM (#51928815)

    Why can't scientists have any damn fun these days?

    Giving it such a silly name would actually likely attract attention to what it does, purely because it is such a silly name.
    Even the "It's bloody cold here" would go a treat.

    Silly names attract attention. Some of it will be interested attention.
    They'd read up on it, and maybe a small number of those people would have some interest in it.
    It might even inspire some of those people to get interested in the industry(-ies) on some level.
    So just go for it.
    Give it a silly name! FOR SCIENCE!

    I hate this prudish boring country.
    Everything is PC, everything is tame, everything is boring, everything is non-excitable and PROFESHUNHUL, sterile and emotionless.
    FUCK professional. I'd rather off myself than be such a boring twat.

    • Why can't scientists have any damn fun these days?

      Why can't ranters on the internet stop bloody blaming scientists for the acts of beaurocrats, politicians and the media?

      everything is tame, everything is boring, everything is non-excitable and PROFESHUNHUL, sterile and emotionless. FUCK professional. I'd rather off myself than be such a boring twat.

      That of course I do agree with, but don't blame scientists for it.

  • Everyone know the correct name should be Shippy McShipface.

  • What is in a name? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by manu0601 ( 2221348 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @09:00PM (#51928891)

    For a non native speaker, it is not obvious why this name is wrong. Is there a pun, or a reference to a cultural item unknown to me?

    A wild guess is that it looks like child talk. Is that all?

    • Re:What is in a name? (Score:5, Informative)

      by JoshuaZ ( 1134087 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @09:13PM (#51928929) Homepage
      Mc is a very common beginning of a surname. It comes from a word meaning "clan of" or "father of". So fake, deliberately silly names are sometimes done as X McY where X and Y are related in some way. So one might jokingly refer to something like Rocket McBoom as a name for a rocket. In this case, it combines with some other humorous things (including adding face in a semi-random way).
    • It's a preschool level humor thing, so it's understandable that you wouldn't get it.

  • My guess: (Score:4, Funny)

    by Hartree ( 191324 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @09:10PM (#51928917)

    They may go with the number three pick, Henry Worsley (Recently deceased South Polar explorer) and name one of the lifeboats Boaty McBoatface.

    But, that would be the intelligent thing rather than the bureaucratic thing, so who knows?

    • That would sound reasonable.
      I also liked the name 'Pillar of Autumn', but that's not the right season for something to be stationed in iceberg field. Besides, I'm sure the highest rank on the ship is higher than Master Chief, and it's not like there is a large glowing ring floating over the bridge or anything...
    • Wouldn't that be "Lifeboaty McBoatface"? I can hear Alfred Hitchcock turning over in his grave right now.

  • The Telegraph takes this as a signal that the ministers "were unlikely to endorse the result."

    The ministers need to take the stick out they ass.

  • With this little experiment in democracy working out as a dismal failure, they might as well go back to monarchy. Oh wait, they already are a monarchy!

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Lurks ( 526137 )

      Noooot really sure Americans ought to be lecturing anyone else about the quality of democracy. :)

    • Though I do suspect it's a valuable data point in the demonstration of the 'tyranny of the masses'.
      Yes, if any reader doesn't know that phrase, google it.

  • Deja vu (Score:5, Informative)

    by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Sunday April 17, 2016 @09:46PM (#51929027)
    Any one remember when Hank the angry Drunken Dwarf was voted People magazine's most beautiful person?

    1998, and People Magazine wanted to make it's presence known on the newfangled internet.

    Leonardo Dicaprio was supposed to win. But 230,169 of us nerds bitchslapped them, and voted Hank in.

    People Magazine, being the ethical rag that it is, declared DiCaprio the winner, even though he came in 3rd.

    Nerds FTW https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    Sad to say, Hank is no longer with us.

    • I remember. Absolutely Classic [wp.com]. R.I.P. Hank. Second only to the great Peter Jennings OJ spoof [youtube.com].

  • Or the winner would have been: "RRS It's Bloody Cold Here".
    And Ian Banks was british btw and he is worth to be honoured with a ship named like that.

  • Why bother run an open poll to name the boat, if you're going to refuse the winning name?

    Well, I guess they raised awareness about ... umm ... the fact that they have a boat.

  • The "It's Bloody Cold Here" is a much better name for a North Seas research vessel.

  • "Members of the British scientific community cast their votes on what to call members of the general population. The winning choice by a long margin was 'Retard McFatFucks'."

  • So it looks like they are planning to name it something else...Morons

    This whole Boaty McBoatface thing has been a publicity goldmine. Seriously, who here even knew there was a UK National Environmental Research Council before this? But the whole circus goes away about 2 weeks after they refuse the name.

    If they actually name the ship Boaty McBoatface, the publicity will effectively live as long as the ship does. Interest will tapir off, sure, but the name is such a grabber that any time there's a chance t

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by iapetus ( 24050 )

      I don't know about you, but I'm generally in favour of interested tapirs [wikipedia.org].

      As for Boaty McBoatface, surely we all knew from the start that wouldn't be the name? They never promised (or even suggested) that the name with most votes would actually be used. At least it gave us Trainy McTrainface [independent.co.uk] and Horsey McHorseface [bbc.co.uk]. So there's that.

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