Culture

Everyone Is Losing It At The Bureau Of Meteorology’s Plea To Stop Being Referred To As ‘BOM’

“I can't spell beurau.”

by Millie Roberts  18 October 2022

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Bom dia, as they say in Portugal. But it is not a “good morning” for the Bureau of Meteorology, who were immediately roasted after asking Australian media outlets to stop calling them ‘BOM’ for short effective immediately.

The BOM issued a statement on Tuesday urging for editorial style guides to be updated for the weather service government agency to henceforth be known as ‘the Bureau’ for short, in alignment with the Meteorology Act of 1955.

“With an ever-increasing number of severe weather events, it is more crucial than ever that the Bureau of Meteorology’s insights, wisdom, data, and information are shared, understood, and acted upon,” they wrote in a statement.

Something about the ridiculousness of the request immediately tickled the bellies of Twitter, with Australian journos having a field day with the name change. Many were quick to point out that despite their efforts to be taken more seriously, BOM is still the name of their official website and weather app.

It also took mere minutes for the appropriate social media handles replacing the current @BOM_au, @BOM_NSW, @BOM_ACT, @BOM_Qld etc. to ‘the Bureau’ to be snagged up on Twitter as well.

See, the thing is, BOM is giving relatable. It’s giving cohesive, snappy familiarity. The Bureau, on the other hand, connotes a wanky James Bond wannabe, that in Google search results will inevitably be mistaken for a quirky 2015 French spy thriller currently available to watch on SBS On Demand.

It’s almost as if when you ask people to do something, they’re hardwired to respond in the complete opposite way. Your move, the Bureau. This really was a BOM diggity move.