New South Wales Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance caught up in scandal

[Snowboarder_Bo]

AP story here; the details are pretty, uh, weird.

A Sydney Harbor ferry christened Ferry McFerryface three months ago has been renamed after a political squabble.

New South Wales Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance said in November that McFerryface came second place in a competition after the now famous choice, Boaty McBoatface.

But Constance said Wednesday that McFerry was only a temporary name to entertain children during the southern summer and the ferry had been permanently renamed after Australian children’s author May Gibbs.

Okay…

Constance’s rationale for rejecting the trendsetting McBoatface in November as the name of the new ferry was that choice had already been taken.

McBoatface was the most popular choice in an online competition in 2016 to name a British polar survey vessel. But that ship was christened Sir David Attenborough in honor of the naturalist and broadcaster and McBoatface became the name of one of its remotely operated submarines.

But wait:

Nine Network television reported late Tuesday that McFerryface attracted only 182 votes in the online poll and was ineligible under the competition’s rules, while at least one unsuccessful candidate attracted more than 2,000 votes.

The state opposition demanded Constance’s resignation for “rigging the ballot.”

“He flat out lied about the competition, repeatedly saying Ferry McFerryface was the popular choice when he knew it was anything but,” opposition lawmaker Jodi McKay said.

Scandal!

Constance denied misleading the public, saying McFerryface came from an initial open call for public nominations in which people could vote for any name without stringent criteria.

Gibbs was one of the names voted on by the public in both public ballots, and attracted 2,082 votes, he said in a statement.

No word in the article if the opposition has asked for a recount.

I did love this denouement tho:

McFerryface joined the ranks of Trainy McTrainface, a Swedish express train, and Horsey McHorseface, a Sydney racehorse, after a trend started by a suggestion from a former BBC radio host.

When is America gonna get onboard the Namey McNameface bandwagon? Can we come up with a good name for our next killbot or invisible plane or something? And in doing so, can we avoid a huge political scandal?

[penultima_thule]

Trumpy McTrumpface could be one of those cinematic evil gothic clowns and harbingers of doom.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

I wonder if Trump’s nickname fits and we can just rest assured that we’re on top of this name game with Fuckface von Clownstick.

[AK84]

@penultima_thule

Trumpy McTrumpface could be one of those cinematic evil gothic clowns and harbingers of doom.

You do realise that some day a few years from now, there will be an aircraft carrier, called the USS Donald Trump?

[penultima_thule]

True, but since it will naturally be the HUGEST carrier ever built, finished in impeccable taste with gold plated bridge and the flight deck festooned with MAGA bunting.
It would be used to house POTUS XLV’s Presidential Library so unlikely to see active service.

[UDS]

. . . plus, we will all be able to refer to it as the USS Trumpy McTrumpface.

[Johnny_Ace]

@AK84

You do realise that some day a few years from now, there will be an aircraft carrier, called the USS Donald Trump?

No, no, that’s a rubber ducky.

[Robot_Arm]

@Snowboarder_Bo

When is America gonna get onboard the Namey McNameface bandwagon?

Boeing is currently designing the 797, presumably the last of the 7X7 model numbers they’ve been using for the last 60 years, and will need to establish a new numbering or naming scheme after that. Planey McPlaneface may not offer sufficient future expandability to meet their needs.

And according to a google search it may have already been claimed by Aer Lingus.

[Novelty_Bobble]

Regardless of the intricacies of this case, what people need to realise is that something like “Boaty Mcboatface” is funny precisely once and it was funny because it was going against the authorities that are perceived as po-faced.
Then, of course, those po-faced authorities themselves think “ah…so that’s what I need to do to be funny and popular” and jump on the bandwagon with predictably eye-rolling results. It is the equivalent of a politician rapping.