Hamilton gets big LOLs with ridiculous snow plow names like 'Clearopathra'

Governments worldwide should have learned their lesson after a 2016 U.K. poll resulted in a submarine actually being named Boaty McBoatface, that lesson being that the public cannot be trusted with taking anything seriously.

Hamilton, Ontario, either didn't get that memo, or just opted to ignore it and have some fun when it called on residents late last year to officially name the city's fleet of snowplows.

And, oh boy, did the public ever deliver.

Newly-elected Hamilton mayor and former Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath shared the winning results of its first annual Name The Plow initiative, and the results are delightfully ridiculous.

.@CityofHamilton's Snow Plow naming results are in! The 10 winning names:
Max Kermanator
Plowy McPlowface
CTRL-SALT-DELETE
Clearopathra
Icekee Wee Wee
The Big Leplowski
HAMBONI
Betty Whiteout
Mr. Plow
Plowasaurus
1/2 pic.twitter.com/CaSw8BsdyE

— Andrea Horwath (@AndreaHorwath) January 13, 2023

In what has become a tradition since the 2016 U.K. naming poll that started it all, one of the plows was even named Plowy McPlowface in a nod to its boat-faced inspiration.

A few of my personal favourite winners are CTRL-SALT-DELETE, Clearopathra, The Big Leplowski, and even a classic Simpsons reference in Mr. Plow.

CTRL - SALT - DELETE. One of the new names for one of our city snow plows #hamont pic.twitter.com/ENGqGSfVJQ

— Jason Thorne (@JasonThorne_RPP) January 15, 2023

Thousands of submissions were collected in a December survey and staff then had the tough job of narrowing the pool down to 20 candidates.

An impressive 28,339 weighed in on the final poll, with Max Kermanator coming out on top as the number-one choice, followed by Plowy McPlowface and CTRL-SALT-DELETE.

Love the names 😍 👍👏

— dinad 🇨🇦 (@dinad_color1065) January 13, 2023

Horwath added that during each snowfall, the "City of Hamilton clears about 6,518 lane km of roadway, 866 km of sidewalks, 244 KMs of bike lanes and 2,365 bus stops," though, like every social media comment section, her enthusiasm has been met with some criticism.

One commenter replied to the mayor, saying that "My street is routinely missed by these cutely-named ploughs directly off of Cannon St. W in @Ward2Hamilton by Central Park," asking for "updates on when we will get regular street clearing here."

Others took aim at completely unrelated policies and stances, unwilling to have even the slightest bit of fun.

Hamilton's plows now have a new layer of fun stencilled in, though they haven't had a whole lot of use during what has been an unprecedented mild streak in Southern Ontario.

Here's hoping they stay comfortable in their garages for the duration of the cold season.