A drone photograph of a phallic-shaped iceberg in Harbour Grace, Canada, which has now disintegrated, has been receiving a significant amount of attention around the Internet.
Photo: Kenneth Pretty
Photographer Ken Pretty, who is from the town of Dildo (yes, really) in Newfoundland, Canada, recently spotted something at sea that took the Internet by storm: an unusual ice formation in the shape of the central part of male human anatomy.
It was a calm spring they and Pretty was flying his drone off Newfoundland’s east coast when he saw the interestingly shaped 30ft iceberg.
“Looking from the land, it wasn’t quite clear,” said Pretty. “But once I got the drone out there, it was unreal how much it looked like – well, you know …”
“I knew I’d get a lot of comments, but I didn’t expect this much,” he added.
Photo: Kenneth Pretty
The pictures taken by Pretty of the phallic iceberg indeed sparked a surge of amusement on Facebook, and then went viral all around the Internet. Some people speculated that it could soon drift past Dick’s Cove, Newfoundland, while another commenter asked, “Is that where baby icebergs come from?”
One woman dubbed the growler a “dickie berg”. “That name has definitely stuck,” said Pretty.
According to the photographer, the similarity was so striking that some people assumed the picture of the chilly willy – to use the Guardian‘s term – was fake.
“People don’t believe it’s real. They think it’s photoshopped and all that,” Pretty explained. “I can tell you – it’s real.”
Photo: Kenneth Pretty
For years, icebergs have been a profitable attraction for tourists, who visit Newfoundland’s eastern coast during the spring season to witness the chunks of ice, broken off from Greenland’s ice shelf, float down the Atlantic Ocean through what’s known as Iceberg Alley.
So what happened to the sensational growler? Well, it found the same fate as many other icebergs do in spring. Even when Pretty took the photo, it didn’t look very stable and appeared to topple – or “go limp,” as he put it – soon. Actually, it happened as soon as the day after.
Photo: Kenneth Pretty
Pretty concedes that the name of his hometown has added to the humor. The Toronto Star titled their article on the iceberg, “Dildo man captures phallic iceberg in Conception Bay.”
Despite the significant amount of attention it received, Pretty believes that the picture could have gained even more popularity if the iceberg had drifted near his hometown.
“I’m from Dildo, so imagine if that came into Dildo, how much traction it would get,” he said.
Nevertheless, “it’s all in good fun. Everyone worried about the cost of living these days,” he concluded. “But if this berg can put a smile on people’s faces, it’s all worth it.”