Boaty McBoatface

English

WOTD – 2 February 2025

Etymology

The proper noun was coined by the British BBC Radio Jersey presenter James Hand in 2016 as a humorous response to a public online poll held by the British government to name a new polar research ship. Despite the fact that “Boaty McBoatface” won decisively, receiving 33% of the overall vote (over three times as many as the second most favoured option), the organizers of the poll ultimately named the ship after British broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough. The name was instead given to one of the autonomous underwater vehicles (pictured) carried aboard the ship.^[1]

The noun may be analyzed as boat +‎ -y (diminutive suffix) + Mc- (patronymic commonly used to form Irish and Scottish names) +‎ boat +‎ face, and was possibly modelled after “Hooty McOwlface”, a name given to an adopted owl which went viral on the Internet in 2012.^[2]

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊti məkˈbəʊtfeɪs/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊti mɪkˈboʊtfeɪs/, [-ɾi-]
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Hyphenation: Boaty Mc‧Boat‧face

Proper noun

Boaty McBoatface

An autonomous underwater vehicle launched in 2017, currently in service with the British Antarctic Survey to study the polar oceans. [from 2016]
- 2016 May 11, David Cameron, Prime Minister, “Engagements”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons of the United Kingdom)‎^[3], volume 609, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 2024-08-05, column 617:
  I am proud to say that the royal Arctic survey ship will be named after David Attenborough. There was strong support for Boaty McBoatface. I think the submarine on the boat will be named Boaty McBoatface but, quite rightly, Attenborough will take top billing.
- 2016 October 17, Jonathan Amos, “Arctic Crossing Planned for ‘Boaty’ Sub”, in BBC News‎^[4], archived from the original on 2024-11-30:
  The UK's favourite new yellow submarine, Boaty McBoatface, is in training for grand challenge. Scientists plan to send the long-range autonomous vehicle under the sea-ice of the Arctic – from one side of the ocean basin to the other.
- 2024 August 10, Georgina Rannard, “Down into the Ocean’s ‘Twilight Zone’ with Boathy McBoatface”, in BBC News‎^[5], archived from the original on 2024-10-08:
  With sheets of water pouring from its body, the UK's most famous robot – Boaty McBoatface – was winched up after 55 days at sea. […] Boaty has completed a more-than-2,000km scientific odyssey from Iceland that could change what we know about the pace of climate change. It was hunting for marine snow – "poo, basically" in the words of one researcher. This refers to tiny particles that sink to the ocena floor, storing huge amounts of carbon.

Verb

Boaty McBoatface (third-person singular simple present Boaty McBoatfaces, present participle Boaty McBoatfacing, simple past and past participle Boaty McBoatfaced)

(transitive, humorous, neologism) To hijack or troll (a vote, especially one held online; or an organization conducting such a vote), by supporting a joke option. [from 2016]
Synonym: McBoatface
- 2016 May 3, @GeorgeWept, Twitter‎^[6], archived from the original on 2022-12-13:
  [Donald] Trump is Boaty McBoatfacing the presidential election.
- 2022 February 28, Sonny Bunch, “98: Is the Video Game Movie Curse Broken?”, in The Bulwark‎^[7], archived from the original on 2022-12-07:
  On this week's episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) ask if the Oscars made a big mistake by allowing a potential Boaty McBoatfacing situation by opening up voting to the Twitter-based masses.
  An adjective use.
- 2022 March 28, Sarah Marrs, “The Chaoscars”, in Lainey Gossip‎^[8], archived from the original on 2022-11-19:
  The Oscars got Boaty McBoatfaced and that's like, the sixth worst headline of the night, that's how bad the show was.
- 2022 March 29, Stuart Heritage, “If it takes Will Smith's slap to make people watch the Oscars, is it doomed?”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[9], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-19:
  Some of the time was ceded to "fan favourite" movies voted for by the public, but the segment was inevitably Boaty McBoatfaced by a handful of hardcore Zack Snyder zealots, which meant that Hollywood's most prestigious night had to grind to a halt so that everyone could watch the Flash enter the Speed Force.

Derived terms

McBoatface
McBoatfacing (noun)

Translations

to hijack or troll (a vote, especially one held online; or an organization conducting such a vote), by supporting a joke option

Finnish: täyttää yleisöäänestys vitsiäänillä
Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

References

^ Tom Whipple (2016 April 18) “Boaty McBoatface tops poll but will vote be scuppered?”, in The Times‎^[1], London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-07-29.
^ Anne Miller, John Mitchinson (2014 April 3) “QI: What is the collective noun for a group of owls?”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[2], London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-09-06.