Austrian village has had enough of our Fucking shenanigans
Full disclosure: This happened back in November. But you know what? The world has been A Lot, so we missed it when it happened, and it’s funny and we really like that photo, so timeliness be damned, we’re going to cover it anyway. Pretend you’ve time-traveled to late November if you want, but only for this story, then hurry back to the present. Or just embrace the lateness. Anything goes! It’s your call! Choose your own context in which to read this story about how the goofy-ass shenanigans of a bunch of English-speaking, snort-laughing tourists drove the village of Fucking, Austria to change its name.
Per the Guardian, some experts date the village’s name back to the 11th century. Located approximately 161 miles west of Vienna, the small village (it boasts a population of around 100 exhausted people who have no interest in taking a selfie with you, buttholes) has endured years of cargo-short-wearing tourists posing for pictures, stealing signs, and manically giggling while asking for directions to the nearest Fucking bar. And the sign-stealing is no joke—after dozens were stolen, the local government began making signs taller and embedding those tall signs in “theft-resistant concrete.”
“I can confirm that the village is being renamed,” said Andrea Holzner, the mayor of Tarsdorf, the municipality to which the village belongs.
“I really don’t want to say anything more – we’ve had enough media frenzy about this in the past,” she told the regional daily Oberösterreichische Nachrichten (OOeN)
Can you blame them? A town just wants to honor a long-dead local rich dude, and this is what happens. Again, from the Guardian:
The village was first officially inhabited in about 1070, probably named after a local nobleman called Adalpert von Vucckingen, though local lore suggests that a sixth-century Bavarian aristocrat called Focko actually founded the settlement.
So, can you now pay a visit to Focko, Austria? Alas, you cannot. The new name: Fugging.
It might not be as funny, but The Fug Girls must be fucking delighted. And if this throws a kink in the works of your post-pandemic travel plans, never fear: It does not appear that Oberfucking and Unterfucking, both located close to Fugging, have plans to change names, so you’re still set to make a total fugging nuisance of yourself at your leisure.
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