Fucking

Fucking is the name of a small village in northern Austria. It isn't really a very exciting village, but I'm pretty sure it's not an urban legend, as there was a (very small) article about it in a leading Israeli newpaper (Yediot Ahronot) a couple of years ago.

The only reason this town came to the headlines (if headlines it can be called), is because of the incredible amount of sign stealing that was going on there. Naturally, many tourists wanted a lovely souvenir - an original sign saying "Welcome to Fucking."

While looking up "Fucking Austria" in google, I came upon a story about the origins of the village's name: it was supposedly founded by this guy called "Fucko" in the 6th century or something. I personally don't believe it.

There is also a website for Fucking (www.fucking.at/fucking), which says the village is around from about 1070. The site also sells T-shirts, which I guess is probably the village's main income; with slogans like "I do it in Fucking Austria" and "I love Fucking in Austria".

Incidentally, if you're going to go there, just so you can say that the best part of your trip was Fucking in Austria, check out Titz in Germany and Asse in Belgium. T&A! T&A!

Update: 13:41:19: After badgerings by wertperch, who claimed "I am assured that it's malarkey by someone who lived in asutria for two years...", I decided to really check once and for all whether it exists. I checked with www.calle.com/world, a listing of (supposedly) all of the world's cities. It indeed exists. It's at longitude: 48N, latitude: 12E, altitude: 464m. Incidentally, you can also visit Oberfucking ( 48N 13E 380 ) and Unterfucking ( 48N 13E 375 )(which would translate as upper and lower Fucking).

A sign from the entrance to Fucking. Below (not so obvious in this ascii remake), is written: "Bitte - nicht so schnell", which means "please - not so fast".

                                                                                                     
                                                                                                     
                                                                                                     
                                                                                                     
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"I:       THHHHHHTHHT                                                                   AH"          
":: '''   IHHHHHHTHHT                                                                   AH"          
:II':I'   IHHHHHHTHHT                                                                   AH"          
"ITTT:    IHHHHHHTHHT                                                                   AH"          
"ITAA"'   IHHHHHHTHHT                                                                   AH"          
:ITAT     IHHHHHHTHHT                                                                   AH"          
:ITTAT'   IHHHHHHTHHT                                                                   AH"          
":TTTAT'  IHHHHHHTHHT                                                                  'AH"          
"ITAT':   IHHHHHHTHHT                                                                   AH"          
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Fucking, Austria is a (real!) town in Northern Austria, located at 48' 03"N 13' 51"E. Founded in the sixth century by a man named Focko, the town has been relatively unknown aside from American (and possibly other English-speaking) tourists stealing their town sign. While the name is actually pronounced 'Fooking', this does little to deter such thievery.

In order to curb the sign-stealings, which take up much of the town's meager budget, the Mayor of Fucking has stated in the past that he intends to do so through use of more concrete and bigger screws...

In regards to the sign itself, it's reasonably average in construction. However, a disturbing juxtaposition happens to adorn its pole. Beneath the sign bearing the town's identifying nomenclature, is a large sign (common in Austria, and from what I'm told, they exist in Germany as well) showing a little girl and a little boy, reading "Bitte, nicht so schnell!" which is German for "Please, not so fast!". The cheerful expressions on their faces are just plain wrong in the eyes of some American tourists, given the context that is produced by the similarity between their township's name and a well-known English word of ill repute.

Sadly, there is little to be found online about this potentially delightful Austrian hamlet, as almost any informational search into it will bring you nothing but their town sign and sites which would like to either show their own photo of themselves next to the sign, or trying to sell you a t-shirt bearing a picture of the sign, and the few travel agents I've tried to ask for information about the town have told me to bugger off, thinking I was an average prank caller. Even an MP3 of a phone call to the town hall I found on a website I lost long ago failed to reveal anything interesting about the town, aside from the fact that their town's secretary speaks ein bisschen (a bit) of German despite the fact that she claims not to.

While I recall an article in Maxim a few years back having stated that the town has only one business (a t-shirt printer specializing in shirts of the town sign), this information could be old or simply inaccurate.

Special thanks to Roninspoon for his grammatical advice. Fixed as noted.