Seems life has been rough for the good folks of the Austrian village of ‘Fucking’ what with all the thefts of signs bearing the small hamlet’s name. So the folks got together and held a vote to see if they should change the name of the village to something a little less colorful to those of us who speak English. Needless to say, this is the sort of news item that is just ripe for funny quotes.
Fucking villagers vote against name change
Spokesman Siegfried Hoeppl, said: “Everyone here knows what it means in English, but for us Fucking is Fucking - and it’s going to stay Fucking - even though the signs keep getting stolen.”
He said the name came from Mr. Fuck and his family who settled in the area 100 years ago, and added “ing”, meaning village or settlement.
The villagers didn’t find out about the English meaning of the word until Allied soldiers stationed in the region in 1945 pointed out the alternative meaning.
Local newspaper editor Menhardt Buzasa said there had been an increase in the number of signs being stolen, and said British tourists were usually blamed.
“I do not agree it is just the British. Fucking is universal. Germans use it as much now as the British, and it also means the same to the Americans, Australians and anyone in the English speaking world,” he said.
Priceless, ain’t it? For the record the actual pronunciation of the town’s name is “fooking,” but that takes all the fun out of it. Seems other Austrian towns have had similar issues with the names of their locales as well:
Similar votes on a name change have taken place recently in neighbouring Austrian towns Wank am see and Petting, as well as in Vomitville and Windpassing.
And, yes, I did check and the folks at Snopes confirm this is real.
Posted on 06/18/2004 at 03:46 AM 
Posted on 06/18/2004 at 05:27 AM 
Posted on 06/18/2004 at 09:49 AM 
That explains why my daughter brought this word home from WMU, she was studying Austrian cultures!
It’s pronounced “fooking”, eh? Does that make it Canadian, eh?