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02nd Dec 2016

Oldham Council announce winning name for new gritter and not everyone’s happy

True Grit

Nooruddean Choudry

It was the naming competition that captured the nation’s imagination.

After the infamous campaign to christen the Natural Environment Research Council’s new vessel ”Boaty McBoatface’, Oldham Council’s decision to put the name of their brand new gritter to public tender was always likely to attract some interesting suggestions.

The responses ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous – with a few very dodgy efforts to boot. Much of the humour was very dark and very funny, as can be seen in the following examples…

https://twitter.com/CosyFT/status/801702821926203392

https://twitter.com/wren154/status/801694877633413120

https://twitter.com/petehayman/status/801687098021576704

https://twitter.com/Inst_4_Studies/status/801549154149421060

https://twitter.com/Mwdsly/status/801537270981476352

https://twitter.com/HSV_Valiant/status/801556653334286341

https://twitter.com/GarethSoye/status/801561812449853440

Our personal favourite was this piece of genius…

Alas none of these were deemed quite suitable for the rock-salt dispensing vehicle. Instead the Council announced on Friday that, after careful deliberation, they had finally decided upon this pun-tastic moniker…

As you can imagine, for a public decision of far greater consequence than Brexit or Scottish Devolution, the news has been received with a mixed response. Not everyone is pleased with the rather ‘safe’ option…

https://twitter.com/DavidBeattie86/status/804684558641876992

https://twitter.com/KevWhitt/status/804638351177510912