If you spent $489 million on a new boat, wouldn’t you want – demand, even – the right to name her?
That’s what the taxpayers of the United Kingdom thought, after they ponied up for the National Environment Research Council’s new arctic research vessel. In fact, the government launched an online poll to determine what name the British public would choose and offered up some vanilla options like Shackleton, Endeavour, and Falcon.
But the great British public chose instead a name that sounds like it came from a Monty Python skit: Boaty McBoatface.
Now, the government has reneged on their commitment to honor the poll, with the minister in charge claiming that the ship needs a “suitable” name.
Needless to say, people are upset they their vote has been so casually dismissed and are hoping that the government will have a swift change of heart.
Because if they don’t, Boaty McBoatface will never cruise the ocean waves.
H/T: Chicago Tribune