<i>"Don’t people have any sense of humour these days?” asked one OOeN reader.<p>Another noted: “They’re getting free publicity – they ought to have been happy to have a funny name."</i><p>Free publicity that leads to sign posts being stolen. For a tiny village of 100 people, this is likely a serious hardship. If it isn't bringing in more money than it's costing them, it's an <i>attractive nuisance</i>, not <i>free publicity.</i>
In Czech republic there is a town called "Horní Police". I saw memes with it, but I dont't find it funny because in Czech it actually means just "Upper Shelf". (But I understand what does it mean for english speaking ppl.)<p>But what I found more fascinating is that there is bus line number 666 going from Debki to Hel in Poland (Debki sounds bit like "depky" which is diminutive for depressions in Czech).
Finland has a lot of intentionally rude place names, especially in the north. Places like "cunt pond" ("vittulampi"), "cockpile" ("kullirova"), "cuntwhistle bog" ("vitunviheltämänjänkä") etc.<p>As to why this is, I've heard a number of theories. One is that people used to be less prudish and this kind of talk was much more commonplace back in the day. Also that the culture up north is more conducive to crude language. It's also possible that when these areas were being surveyed, the locals made some of these names up just to mess with the likely southern officials sent to talk to them.<p>Also I've heard that this is why there are so many lakes named "Holy lake" ("pyhäjärvi") - at some point, enough was enough and the officials just stopped accepting the local names. True or not, who knows.
> The village was first officially inhabited in about 1070, but local lore suggests that a sixth-century Bavarian nobleman called Focko actually founded the settlement. A map dating from 1825 used the spelling Fuking.<p>Weird (to me, an english speaker with no knowledge of modern or 11th century Austrian) that they went with Fugging and not, say, Focking.
Kumamoto in Japan has a similarly bad name in Swahili. If you break the city's name into 2 four-letter words, you get vagina (kuma) and hot (moto) in Swahili. Thankfully, Swahili speakers are not going to harass this city's residents anytime soon.
"They finally grew weary of Fucking, its current name, which some experts say dates back to the 11th century."<p>"Some have reportedly even stolen the signposts, leading the local authorities to use theft-resistant concrete when putting up replacements."<p>It's sad and a disgrace that a town has to rename itself after a thousand years, because people whose intellectual capacity is questionable won't stop with the abuse.<p>EDIT: I'm sure David Mitchell was right when he said that the world is calibrated for "idiots".
A lot of people don't know this, but it takes about 30min to go from Petting to Fucking. See <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Fucking,+Austria/83367+Petting,+Germany/" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Fucking,+Austria/83367+Petti...</a>
So the villagers of "Fucking" got together to pitch ideas for a new village name that couldn't be made fun of, and they settled on... "Fugging"?
<a href="https://www.vaguelyrudeplacesmap.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.vaguelyrudeplacesmap.com/</a> has a whole collection.<p>To add confusion Austria will then have two places "Fugging, formerly known as Fucking".
Does that mean their beer, "Fucking Hell" [0] will have to rebrand?<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucking_Hell" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucking_Hell</a>
Well, that's unfortunate that they decided to change the name. But there's always Intercourse, PA if you're looking for a fun sounding place to go: <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Intercourse,+PA/@40.0368067,-76.1275931,14z/" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/maps/place/Intercourse,+PA/@40.036806...</a>
So, how long will it take for some internet subgroup to use the verb “to fug”? <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fug" rel="nofollow">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fug</a>:<p>*Sound shift from fuck.<p>Interjection
fug<p>Euphemistic form of fuck. quotations ▲<p>- 1985, Herbert A. Applebaum, Blue Chips, Brunswick Pub. Co., page 126:<p><pre><code> It's always somethin' or other. Ah, fug it. I'm away now.
</code></pre>
- 2012, Drew Campbell, Dead Letter House, →ISBN:<p><pre><code> Oh fug. Whad a mess.
</code></pre>
- 2015, Lynn Lindquist, Secret of the Sevens, →ISBN:<p><pre><code> “Why is this door locked?” she shouts. “Oh fug!”</code></pre>
There's more to this: Apparently there's another village in Lower Austria (east of this one which is in Upper Austria) which also used to be called Fucking but was renamed to Fugging a long time ago. Then Fucking, Upper Austria attempted to change its name to Fugging but failed because of the name clash with Fugging, Lower Austria. Incidentally they have their name from the same source as well.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugging_(Lower_Austria)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugging_(Lower_Austria)</a>
I totally understand the Fuckers for doing this.<p>Tourism? Nah. They'll just take a picture, buy a soda and leave. People want to live their quiet lives. Change the name and be done.<p>>><i>Just across the border in Bavaria in Germany there is a village called Petting.</i><p>I guess they kept going from petting to f* and the other way around for centuries.
I wonder if they will keep making this glorious beer:<p><a href="https://www.bierlinie-shop.de/a-640" rel="nofollow">https://www.bierlinie-shop.de/a-640</a><p>They clearly also had some fun with the name
Don’t forget these guys, I’ve been to both -<p><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/tyDE578TkHtShaPp6" rel="nofollow">https://goo.gl/maps/tyDE578TkHtShaPp6</a><p><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/anpHReZbbHGgNtki6" rel="nofollow">https://goo.gl/maps/anpHReZbbHGgNtki6</a>
Similar story:<p>"World Taekwondo, called the World Taekwondo Federation until June 2017, is the international federation governing the sport of taekwondo and is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).[2] The body was renamed in June 2017 to avoid the "negative connotations" of the previously used initials WTF."<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Taekwondo" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Taekwondo</a>
I wonder if the residents will continue to get free [0] Pornhub Premium?<p>[0]: <a href="https://www.pornhub.com/premiumplaces" rel="nofollow">https://www.pornhub.com/premiumplaces</a><p>(Note: SFW webpage, but still on the PH domain)
Considering you cannot educate English speaking idiots, make a living out of them:<p>Based on social media analysis see when there's a "high season" of idiots<p>Buy domain fuckingaustria.com or something more clever.<p>Get 100 tshirts with a town sign illustration, bumper stickers, mugs, wool hats and jumpers (which will be worn across all Europe by EU roaming English speakers on road tours), a roadside market permit, sell them and on the side offer informative pamphlets and mailing list subscriptions about the town and what locals do. Rinse and repeat while pushing what Fucking really is about, always with a deadpan take that leaves wondering wether you're serious or not.<p>It's what New Zealand's president did with the country not being shown on several maps. Instead of a hissy fit, use humor to point at a problem.<p><a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=HynsTvRVLiI" rel="nofollow">https://youtube.com/watch?v=HynsTvRVLiI</a>