Thousands of Aussies are homeless and Victoria is underwater – but the Bureau of Meteorology doesn’t like its nickname anymore and wants you to call it something else
- Bureau of Meteorology bizarrely requested it no longer be referred to as BOM
- The government weather agency has embraced the acronym for years
- Its apps, website and social media accounts all feature the BOM name
- But a media release on Tuesday requested everyone now refer to its full name
The Bureau of Meteorology has bizarrely requested it no longer be referred to as ‘BOM’ – despite embracing the acronym for years and using it across its social media and applications.
The government weather agency is attempting to move away from the moniker due to the ‘ever-increasing nature of severe weather events’.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Bureau requested all media update their style guides to ensure its full name, rather than the abbreviation, is used.
‘With an ever-increasing number of severe weather events, it is more crucial than ever that the Bureau of Meteorology’s insights, wisdom and information are shared, understood and acted upon,’ it said in a media release.
‘To support this need, the Bureau of Meteorology asks that media outlets update editorial style to ensure references to the organisation are by its full name, the Bureau of Meteorology or the Bureau for short, and not BOM or the Weather Bureau.’
To justify its request, the government organisation even referenced the Meteorology Act 1955.
The Bureau of Meteorology has bizarrely requested it no longer be referred to as ‘BOM’ – despite using the name on its social media and applications
It comes despite the Bureau featuring the ‘BOM’ moniker on all of its social media accounts and applications
The statement was widely mocked on social media, given its website, Twitter account and apps all feature the ‘BOM’ name.
The Bureau also came under fire given almost half the country is currently grappling with severe flooding risk.
Thousands of Victorians have been left homeless because of the floods while much of the state is still underwater.
Volunteers frantically working to keep the swollen Campaspe River at bay as the flooding risk in Echuca, Victoria continues
The bureau’s Twitter account also features the ‘BOM’ name for its handle and display picture
Journalists shared the release, confused by the fact it was coming from profiles that clearly read ‘BOM AU’.
‘The Bureau Formerly Known as BOM,’ one person joked.
‘The weather bureau: Do not call us the BOM. Also the weather bureau,’ another man posted, sharing an image of the app which reads ‘BOM’.
Cheeky Aussies then took advantage of the media release, snapping up the Twitter handles the Bureau was trying to change to to follow its own guidelines.
The most brutal takedown came from The Bureau WA.
‘We know half the country is under water, and that we should be preparing for all the cyclones that’ll hit WA this year, but rest assured our top priority is that you stop calling us “the BOM”. #TheBureau,’ the parody Twitter account wrote.
A number of prospective Twitter handles the bureau may want have since been snapped up by cheeky Aussies
‘TheBureau_AUS’, ‘TheBureau_NSW’ and ‘TheBureau_ACT’ were all taken up by a man, nicknaming the accounts ‘Australia’s Little Bureau’ and ‘Human Guy People Man’.
The profiles were taken within minutes, with one bio reading: ‘Let me descibe the weather to you’.
‘The Bureau of Meteorology (whose website is bom.gov.au and whose app is called BOM Weather is asking media not to refer to the organisation as ‘BOM’,’ another commenter wrote.
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