After 'Plowy McPlowFace' trends nationally, Minnesota's work here is done
Bask in the adulation, everyone, as Minnesota has found itself at the center of national conversation once again.
It must be for some outrageously unlikely winter weather? Or surely the Mayo Clinic or U of M has made an incredible breakthrough in COVID-19 treatment?
No, it's because we named a snow plow "Plowy McPlowface."
I believe it was Shakespeare who wrote the immortal line, "Et tu, Plowy McPlowface?", or was it Tolkien who said, "There is some Plowy McPlowface in this world, and it’s worth fighting for"?
In any case, the purest of poetry will now adorn a MnDOT snow plow that will clear roads in the Twin Cities metro, after Plowy McPlowface was the most popular choice in MnDOT's public vote to name eight of its winter plows.
In turn, "Plowy McPlowface" was trending nationally on Twitter Tuesday, with coverage being picked up by among others the New York Times and the New York Daily News.
The MnDOT contest is now being taken up by Colorado, which is launching its own "name that plow" contest. How original! (Only joking, Colorado, MnDOT did this because it noticed Scotland's snow plows hav pun names).
Plowy McPlowface has its detractors too, including MPR News' Tom Crann – henceforth known as Cranny McCranface – who believes there were better options from the 50 available in the MnDOT vote.
Of course there were better options, but that's not what this is about dammit.
Ever since the British Government threw open the naming of its new naval research vessel to the public and "Boaty McBoatface" surged into human history, it now tradition that any public naming vote be treated in the same way.
How long this will last is anybody's guess, memes have a limited shelf life, but for now at least, nothing is stopping this Trainy McTrainface.
