Who says the Brits don't have a sense of humor?

[Admiral Yi]

They interviewed tourists from non-Anglophone countries who still think Benny Hill was the apogee of British comedy and have talking poos on prime time television. Yes, we're laughing at you, not with you.

Benny Hill had good taste in tits.

[derspiess]

Benny Hill's uniquely broad appeal puts him in his own category.

[The Brain]

They had no stake in it, thus rather silly to let them vote on it.

That seems like a dangerous principle.

Yeah? Should people in Denmark vote on what Sweden should be called?

Slippery slope. Should useless layabouts get the vote? Even with no investment in society?

[Valmy]

Slippery slope. Should useless layabouts get the vote? Even with no investment in society?

Well theoretically they depend on their welfare check or whatever. But most people who get the vote care who wins. But it is this effect that gets true loony-tunes elected to minor offices all over the US. Most people have no stake so they do not care.

[The Brain]

Idea for new nickname for katmai: Bloaty McBloatface.

[Barrister]

Ship will be called RRS Sir David Attenborough.

A remote submersible will be called Boaty however.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36225652?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central

[celedhring]

So Brits don't have a sense of humor afterall, at least the ones making the decisions.

[Syt]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/world/europe/boaty-mcboatface-mission-antarctica.html

Boaty McBoatface, From Internet Joke to Polar Explorer

LONDON — Boaty McBoatface is back, but this time it's serious.

The high-tech remote-operated yellow submarine, bearing a name that began as a joke, will begin its first mission this week through a deep current that starts in Antarctica and goes through the Southern Ocean.

Boaty will navigate through underwater waterfalls and rapids on a two-month mission, collecting data to help scientists understand how global warming affects oceans. It will depart on Friday aboard the James Clark Ross, a British polar research ship, from Punta Arenas, Chile, and will head to the Southern Ocean.

The scientists involved can only hope that Boaty McBoatface will find something that draws as much attention to climate change as the odd story of how the vessel got its name.

That story started a year ago, when the Natural Environment Research Council, a British government agency, opened a public campaign to name a ship to replace the James Clark Ross.

That plan backfired in spectacular fashion, with voters overwhelmingly supporting a name that failed to capture the grandeur that officials were probably looking for: Boaty McBoatface.

To the dismay of many, the Science Ministry ignored the results of the poll and announced that the ship would be named after the naturalist David Attenborough.

In an attempt to soothe hurt feelings, British officials acknowledged the Boaty McBoatface phenomenon by bestowing the name on a remotely operated submarine that would accompany the David Attenborough in collecting data and samples.

Enthusiasm for Boaty McBoatface continued to run high on Monday, even though, as one Twitter user noted, it's not a boat, and it doesn't have a face.

The robot submarine's missions can last for several months and include traveling thousands of miles under ice while reaching depths of about three and a half miles to measure seabed properties on an oceanic scale. It can then rise to the surface to transmit data to oceanographers via a radio link.

The British National Oceanography Center says it hopes Boaty will be able to make the first under-ice crossing of the Arctic Ocean.

Construction on the David Attenborough, a project expected to cost 200 million pounds, or about $240 million, continues at a shipyard in Liverpool, in northern England. The vessel is expected to become operational in 2019.