Just about everything winter-related is terrible, if you ask me—the bitter cold air, the early sunset and, most of all, the snow. However, there’s a silly winter tradition that seems to be spreading across the world and has finally made its way to the United States: naming snow plows.
Minnesota is the latest state to hop on the trend after it launched a contest in December for people to name eight of the DOT’s plow trucks. And as you probably guessed, the internet decided to have some fun by submitting a ton of ridiculous names.
A total of 50 submissions were selected and listed on the MDOT website for consideration where the choices received 122,435 unique votes. Several fan favorites came out on top—Plowy McPlowFace (a take on the infamously-named Boaty McBoatFace) was the winner on more than half of all virtual ballots and earned itself a place on the Metro District plow truck.
The other seven winners were Ope, Just Gonna Plow Right Past Ya; Duck Duck Orange Truck; Plow Bunyan; Snowbi Wan Kenobi; F. Salt Fitzgerald; Darth Blader; and The Truck Formerly Known as Plow.
There were some excellent choices buried under the snow, however. Blizzard Wizard, Edward Blizzardhands, and Tator Tot Hotdish might not have gotten enough votes to have their names slapped on the back of a plow truck, but they’re good enough to plow their way into my heart. You can check out the full list of plow names on the MDOT website.
Directly behind Plowly McPlowFace was the controversial name “Abolish ICE” (not referring to the internal combustion engine), however, MDOT determined that the name “might not be the appropriate” for its lighthearted contest and excluded it from the short-list of finalists.
I have to admit, I’m kind of jealous that my state of Pennsylvania hasn’t yet gotten around to naming its plow trucks yet. This wholesome contest makes the winter months a wee bit easier to deal with knowing which particular trucks are (or aren’t) shoveling your streets.
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