Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by gryphonshafer on Friday April 22, 2016 @09:21AM (#11548889)

This happens with airports a lot. Some really wonderful and generous old pilot or aviation engineer dies, so the field gets renamed in honor of the person. But aviators still refer to the field by it's traditional name. It's not a slight against the honored dead; rather, it's just out of habit and the fact that it's tremendously easier to remember "$CITY_NAME Airport" than it is "$GUY_WHO_DIED Field".

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by AdmiralAsshat on Friday April 22, 2016 @09:37AM (#11549017)

Speaking of airports, I know of several people who outright refuse to refer to Washington National Airport by its current name, "Ronald Regan Washington National Airport". They will go so far as to correct someone who says "Regan National" and insist, "Washington National."

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by HoopleHead on Friday April 22, 2016 @09:43AM (#11549067)

Well, given the guy's name was "Reagan", it does warrant some kind of correction.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by DonHopkins on Friday April 22, 2016 @12:04PM (#11550164)

You mean it's not named after Reagan's chief of staff?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by scurvy on Friday April 22, 2016 @09:54AM (#11549171)

Would these people happen to be air traffic controllers?

Also, most people in DC just call it National. Probably because the other airport also has a one word name (Dulles).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by imgabe on Friday April 22, 2016 @11:48AM (#11550043)

Some people in DC are still annoyed by the renaming, partly because of the air controller thing, and partly because Congress changed the name against the wishes of the people of DC and then forced DC to pay for changing the signs out of the city's budget.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by DonHopkins on Friday April 22, 2016 @12:06PM (#11550178)

Didn't they name a fruit [1] after the mayor-for-life of Washington DC?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marionberry

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by tosseraccount on Friday April 22, 2016 @10:52AM (#11549613)

Some people call it just "Reagan".

Which airport, "Reagan", "Dulles" or "BWI" ?

They don't say "Marshall" for BWI, though.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by treehau5 on Friday April 22, 2016 @02:12PM (#11551226)

When I was there I called it "The Expensive one", "The One No one Goes to", and "The cheaper one"

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by JBReefer on Friday April 22, 2016 @10:21AM (#11549387)

Part of it is that it was named after him while he was still alive, and part of it is that DC is very, very blue.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by DonHopkins on Friday April 22, 2016 @12:07PM (#11550194)

I think it's less because they were blue, and more because they were devastated by his policies.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by scurvy on Friday April 22, 2016 @09:54AM (#11549161)

Definitely. Ever wonder why New Orleans' airport has the symbol MSY, but is named Louis Armstrong airport? MSY stands for Moisant Stock Yards, in honor of early aviator John Moisant.

Im recent years, the city renamed the airport to Louis Armstrong airport, but no one in the city refers to it as that. Everyone still calls it Moisant. Not that we don't like Louis Armstrong, it's always been called Moisant and New Orleans really doesn't like change.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by Grishnakh on Friday April 22, 2016 @10:31AM (#11549466)

I always wondered why that airport was called MSY.

However, I can think of one counterexample: JFK airport in NYC. It used to be called Idlewild, named after some golf course I think, but was renamed to JFK (with the airport code JFK) back in the 60s. No one knows what "Idlewild" is any more.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by scurvy on Friday April 22, 2016 @11:29AM (#11549892)

I had heard this in the past but forgot it. Thanks for the story!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by WorldMaker on Friday April 22, 2016 @11:03AM (#11549698)

Another fun example is the Louisville International Airport which was originally named Standiford Field, thus the airport code SDF and even locals still sometimes refer to it as Standiford, but in this case was renamed to the more obvious choice (Louisville International Airport) to confuse people less.

A further tangent, but the more obvious airport code LOU is still in active use across town at Bowman Field, the city's original air field (definitely not an airport) and these days the oldest remaining continually operating air field in the country.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy by jghn on Friday April 22, 2016 @12:37PM (#11550413)

Random aside but when I was a kid in the early 80s I found a radio in my grandparents basement which could pick up the radio chatter at Bowman. I would listen to that thing every time we visited

[ Parent | on HN ]