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The point of the boat isn't to be a Budgie the Helicopter style cash machine, is it? It has a serious purpose. Why does it have to appeal to 4 year olds, who h
by hartpuff 10y ago
The point of the boat isn't to be a Budgie the Helicopter style cash machine, is it? It has a serious purpose.
Why does it have to appeal to 4 year olds, who have zero understanding of or interest in what it does? Why does it require an infantile name to appeal to kids who are old enough to be interested in what it does?
The only reason this is even any kind of issue is because of the way internet works, where all kinds of pointless immature stupidity is given far more time of day than it deserves, because newspaper sites have to fill themselves with something.
Edit: Oh dear. Looks like I hit a nerve with some people. :( ∗sad mcsadface∗
- aninhumer 10y agoThe parent wasn't simply talking about making it a "cash machine", they're talking about using it as a PR vehicle for science. And you don't have to be a child to appreciate the name, just not quite as allergic to whimsy as you seem to be.
- hartpuff 10y ago> You could do merchandise, books, characters He was talking about free merchandise, books, characters then?
- aninhumer 10y agoThey also said: > You could have Boaty McBoatface sale up to the ice caps to look at why they are melting. An example of how it could be used to deliver important messages. And merchandise can be part of the message anyway. (I should however note that I just edited my comment to include the word "simply".)
- hartpuff 10y agoAFAIK there's nothing to stop someone creating a character called Boaty McBoatface that teaches 4 year olds why the ice caps are melting, without having its internet joke name attached to a real life $300 million scientific research vessel.
- aninhumer 10y agoWell yeah, but that's not the same. And exactly what problem does attaching the name to a real boat cause? I think the objection to the name is far more childish than the name itself. "Oh no no no, we can't call it that. This is a serious boat, for serious grown ups."
- vidarh 10y agoIf only Spitting Image was still around. This whole thing is like designed for a solid round of mockery.
- hartpuff 10y agoIs it just $300 million scientific research vessels that should be given deliberately stupid names (that even the originator disowns), or everything?
- aninhumer 10y agoWhat? I said objecting to the name is childish. That doesn't mean I think everything should have whimsical names, and I really don't know how you interpreted that from what I said?
- hartpuff 10y agoDid I say you said everything should have whimsical names? I asked if that is what you thought. Can't you tell the difference? So what's your presumably non-childish objection to other things being given "whimsical" names?
- aninhumer 10y ago>So what's your presumably non-childish objection to other things being given "whimsical" names? I don't object to that either?
- 10y ago
- hartpuff 10y agoWow, it's extremely irritating to see this (parent) post downvoted by people who may not realize (till after downvoting) that what I replied to was edited - from denying what I said to admitting it, making my reply look redundant.
- TillE 10y ago> allergic to whimsy British public life is nothing but whimsy. Consider that "wheelie bin" is the actual normal name of a thing, not a cutesy nickname. A little non-whimsy is frankly refreshing.
- aninhumer 10y agoAs opposed to "panties", "burglarize" and "bangs"? There are words in all dialects that sound whimsical to outsiders, but internally they're so normalised that no one considers them whimsical at all.
- icebraining 10y agoYeah, serious new Royal Navy boats need serious names, like its predecessors HMS Speedy, HMS Child's Play, HMS Happy Entrance, HMS Arrogant (later renamed HMS Insolent)...
- vidarh 10y agoMakes me wonder if any of these were part of the inspiration for Iain M. Banks ship names.
- icebraining 10y agoVery probably, as his father was an officer in the Royal Navy, and he grew up near the naval dockyards :)
- kamjam 10y ago> Why does it have to appeal to 4 year olds, who have zero understanding of or interest in what it does? You realise that those 4 year olds grow up right? And that by possibly catching their attention and imagination at an early age it might even make them more interested in the area and maybe, gosh, make them want to become researchers and scientists when they grow up and tackle issues like climate change. And the very people objecting to it now will be retired, dead or moved onto a more senior position and then care less about it.
- hartpuff 10y ago> You realise that those 4 year olds grow up right? No, I didn't realize that 4 year olds grow up. Thank you for clearing that up.