Fugging, Upper Austria
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Fugging (), spelled Fucking until 2021, is an
Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...
village in the municipality of Tarsdorf, located in the
Innviertel The Innviertel (literally German language, German for "Inn Quarter"; officially called the ; ) is a traditional Austrian region southeast of the Inn (river), Inn river. It forms the western part of the States of Austria, state of Upper Austria a ...
region of western
Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...
. It is north of
Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...
and east of the
Inn river The Inn (; ; ) is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. The long river is a right tributary of the Danube, being the third largest tributary of the Danube by discharge. The highest point of its drainage basin is the summit of Piz Berni ...
, which forms part of the German border. Despite a population of only 106 in 2020, the village has drawn attention in the
English-speaking world The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English language, English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the ...
for its former name, which was spelled the same as an inflected form of the vulgar English-language word "
fuck ''Fuck'' () is profanity in the English language that often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested ...
". Its road signs were a popular visitor attraction and were often stolen by souvenir-hunting vandals until 2005, when they were modified to be theft-resistant. A campaign to change the village's name to Fugging was rejected in 2004 but succeeded in late 2020.


Former name and etymology

The settlement is believed to have been founded in the 6th century AD by Focko, a Bavarian nobleman. The Austrian region during this century was mostly under the domain of the
Kingdom of the Ostrogoths The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy (), was a barbarian kingdom established by the Germanic Ostrogoths that controlled Italy and neighbouring areas between 493 and 553. Led by Theodoric the Great, the Ostrogoths killed Odo ...
and was populated by a mix of
Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
and
pagans Pagans may refer to: * Paganism, a group of pre-Christian religions practiced in the Roman Empire * Modern Paganism, a group of contemporary religious practices * Pagan's Motorcycle Club, a motorcycle club * The Pagans The Pagans were an Am ...
. The existence of the village was documented for the first time in 1070, and historical records show that some 20 years later, the lord was recorded in Latin as '. The spelling of the name, which is pronounced with the English language vowel ''oo'' as in ''book'', evolved over the years; it is first recorded in historical sources as ''Vucchingen'' in 1070, as ''Fukching'' in 1303, as ''Fugkhing'' in 1532, and in the modern spelling ''Fucking'' in the 18th century. The ending ''-'' is an old Germanic suffix indicating the people belonging to the root word to which it is attached, thus ''Fucking'' means "(place of) Focko's people".


Demographics

The Austrian census of 2020 recorded that the village had a population of 106. ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' reported in 2005 that it had 104 inhabitants and 32 houses.


Popularity and notoriety

Fugging is best known for the four traffic signs at the entrances to the village, beside which many English-speaking tourists have had their photograph taken because of its former name of "Fucking". British and United States soldiers based in nearby
Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...
noticed the name after
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and began to travel to the village to have their photos taken beside the signs. The local residents, the Fuckingers, were bemused, as they had not previously been aware of the meaning of their village's name in English. During the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century, the number of tourists visiting the village increased, including the occasional tour bus. The village is especially popular with British tourists; as a local tour guide explained: "The Germans all want to see Mozart's house in Salzburg; the Americans want to see where ''
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'' was filmed; the Japanese want Hitler's birthplace in Braunau; but for the British, it's all about Fucking." Augustina Lindlbauer, the manager of an area guesthouse, said that the area had lakes, forests, and vistas worth visiting, but there was an "obsession with Fucking", and she had to explain to a British tourist "that there were no Fucking postcards". The English meaning of its name also resulted in the village being the butt of jokes in popular media. ''
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'' featured the village in the 2017 episode " ensoredto ensored, as part of a road trip from Wank via
Kissing A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, Passion (emotion), passion ...
,
Petting Making out is a term of American origin dating back to at least 1949, and is used to refer to kissing, including extended French kissing or ''necking'' (heavy kissing of the neck, and above), or to acts of non-penetrative sex such as heavy ...
, and Fucking to
Wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...
. In 2019, Norwegian broadcasting company
NRK Sport NRK Sport is a brand name for sports programming produced by the sports department of Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). The brand name is used on most national sports broadcasts on television, radio and new media.YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
, the video consists of the reporter and the former ''
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'' presenter Nicolay Ramm both advertising the village's attractions and listing off a large number of
double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...
s based on its name. The road signs were commonly stolen as souvenirs, and cost some 300 
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to replace. In 2005, theft-resistant welded signs were installed, secured in concrete. The mayor of Tarsdorf said that tourists were still welcome, though the local police chief emphasised that "we will not stand for the Fucking signs being removed. It may be very amusing for you British, but Fucking is simply Fucking to us. What is this big Fucking joke? It is puerile." One resident set up a website selling T-shirts featuring the signs, with the slogan "I like Fucking in Austria", but shut it down after other residents disapproved. In 2009, the village said it would install surveillance cameras to deter tourists from continuing to attempt to steal the road signs. Many methods were taken, which include screwing the Fucking signs to pedestals without much success. The mayor said that he would prefer not to see the village featured in the press anymore: "Just leave salone". In the same year, the European Union's
Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) () is a decentralised agency of the EU responsible for the registration of EU-wide unitary trade marks and industrial design rights. These exist alongside the intellectual property right ...
trademarks agency forbade a German brewery to market a beer called "
Fucking Hell Fucking Hell is a German pale lager, a Pilsner, with an alcohol content of 4.9%. It is named after Fucking, the previous name of the village of Fugging, Upper Austria, Fugging in Austria; ''Helles, hell'' is the German word for 'pale' and a typi ...
". The brewery successfully argued that "hell" in German means "pale" and that the beer is named after the town of Fucking; permission for the name was granted in January 2010. (The second part of the name is the German term for a
pale lager Pale lager is a pale-to- golden lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. In the mid-19th century, Gabriel Sedlmayr took British pale ale brewing and malt making techniques back to the Spaten Bre ...
, '.)


Name change

A 2004 vote on changing the village's name failed. "Everyone here knows what it means in English, but for us Fucking is Fuckingand it's going to stay Fucking" said the mayor as he pointed out that the name had been ''Fucking'' for 800 years. In April 2012, rumours spread through international media that villagers had been thinking about changing the name of the village or had actually voted to change it. The satirical website ''The Spoof!'' published a story that was expanded in the British tabloid the ''
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''. The story was then reported elsewhere as news, including by ''
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'' and ''
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'', who said that a vote had taken place to change the name to Fugging, but it was discovered that a village with that name already existed in the municipality of Obritzberg-Rust just west of
Herzogenburg Herzogenburg is a town in the district of Sankt Pölten-Land in the Austrian state of Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities ...
. The mayor denied these rumours. The council of Tarsdorf voted in their 17 November 2020 session to have the village's name officially changed to Fugging, effective 1 January 2021. A video by Danish
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, which drew attention to the village's peculiar name, was reportedly stated as being the reason for the name change. Around 28,673 people visited the village following the release of the video, disrupting local residents with the excessive filming and trespassing of local property, such as the village's elementary school and residents' homes. The following month, signs with the new name were vandalised to read "Fucking". One of the last remaining signs with the old name was given to the Haus der Geschichte Österreich in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. In September 2021, village mayor Andrea Holzner stated that the disruptions had ceased, and that the name change had the intended effect.


In literature and film

''Bad Fucking'', a 2011 satirical mystery novel by the Austrian director and novelist Kurt Palm, is set in a slightly renamed Fucking; it won the Friedrich Glauser Prize and was filmed in 2013 by Harald Sicheritz.


See also

*
Place names considered unusual Place names considered unusual can include those which are also Profanity, offensive words, inadvertently humorous (especially if mispronounced) or highly charged words, as well as toponymy, place names of unorthodox spelling and pronunciation, ...
* Oberfucking * Unterfucking * Shitterton, a hamlet in Dorset, England with a similar history of sign theft * Šukačka, settlement in the Czech Republic that is slang for "fucking" *
Um Dafuq Um Dafuq (), also spelled Um Dafouk, Um Dafok, Um Dafog, is a town located across the Central African Republic–Sudan border in South Darfur. The town holds economic and commercial importance. It is the birthplace of Abdallahi ibn Muhammad. Hist ...
, town in Sudan * Fuckersburg, another town in Upper Austria containing “fuck” in its name.


References


External links


Tarsdorf Municipality website


''
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''. 29 March 2010. {{Authority control Cities and towns in Braunau am Inn District Populated places established in the 6th century Tourism in Austria Naming controversies Controversies in Austria