The UK's NERC has, as you will know, recently welched on a deal to give its latest research ship a name chosen by the public. The winning name - Boaty McBoatface - was deemed unappropriate. Instead, they are naming the ship after England's most esteemed (and Earth's finest) naturalist.
Whilst I think that naming the ship after Sir David is an excellent idea, it does make a tombollockry of the democratic process.
However, a solution lies within the gift of Sir David himself. A simple act of Deed Poll would enable the ship to be named after the great man himself whilst preserving the name chosen by the public.
If His Davidness is reading this, I urge him to do the honourable thing.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 18 2016 the public are on top of this http://www.sbs.com....me-boaty-mcboatface [bs0u0155, May 18 2016] How "Dho!" is used https://www.youtube...watch?v=cnaeIAEp2pU [doctorremulac3, May 18 2016] Re. link - Damn, damn, damn. Every time I have a brilliant idea, somebody jumps on the bandwagon beforehand.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 18 2016 And your category choice is inappropriate also :-)
But nice paragraph breaks...-- normzone, May 18 2016 I like the idea of the nicknames that really take.... the A- 10 close support aircraft for example is officially titled the "Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II" No one calls it that though. It's the "Warthog". The pilots are "Hog drivers". The official upgrade program was "HOGUP". You can call Boaty Mc-B whatever you want officially, but if popular support builds around an alternative... you're going to have a tedious official saying "So we can send the Sir David Attenborough....(blank faces) the new research vessel.... (still blank) *sigh* Boaty Mc..." "Oh! got you, Boaty, yup, where's Boaty going?"
An alternative strategy would be to ensure the captain was a little mischievous... renaming boats is notoriously unlucky. Captains can facilitate endless bad luck...-- bs0u0155, May 18 2016 //your category choice is inappropriate// I know. But, inaccountably, there doesn't seem to be a "Boat/Naming by public/Accommodating frivolous choices/Facesaving/Renaming of celebrities/Sir David Attenborough" category. This is clearly one of [Jutta]'s extremely rare oversights.
Actually, why isn't there a "Sir David Attenborough" category?-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 18 2016 Sir Boaty McBoatface.
Not exactly regal, more of a "man of the people" kind of title.-- doctorremulac3, May 18 2016 // why isn't there a "Sir David Attenborough" category? //
Well, there's "Other:Religion:Deity or Prophet", or "Other:Religion: Media" ...-- 8th of 7, May 18 2016 +1-- po, May 18 2016 Ya know, it isn't entirely necessary to have Sir DA's cooperation in the matter : BmcB activists are in all walks of life - a couple of anonymous keystrokes in the right terminals...-- FlyingToaster, May 18 2016 //Sir Boaty McBoatface.//. So, the Brits are now classifying their ships as Sir Face vessels and submersibles? (I'm sorry)-- AusCan531, May 18 2016 Dho!
(see link for explanation if you don't say Dho! in your country)-- doctorremulac3, May 18 2016 It's like "Boris Bikes" in London (London's bike hire scheme). These were actually introduced by someone called Ken but that didn't alliterate so "Ken Bikes" was a non-starter. They were sponsored by Barclays who were very miffed that people didn't call them "Barclays Bikes", despite having paid £25m for the sponsorship rights. Boris (ex-mayor of London*) generously offered to change his name to "Barclays" for another £25m.[*] You can tell he's an ex-mayor of London because he's started comparing things to Hitler, just like every other ex-mayor of London.-- hippo, May 20 2016 Godwin' .. ! .... oh, sorry.
As you were.-- 8th of 7, May 20 2016 random, halfbakery