Fucking, Austria: Information from Answers.com

Fucking
— Village —
The frequently stolen traffic sign,^[1] at the entrance to the village of Fucking.
Fucking Located in Austria 2.5 miles from the German border.
Coordinates: 48°04′02″N 12°51′49″E / 48.06722°N 12.86361°E / 48.06722; 12.86361Coordinates: 48°04′02″N 12°51′49″E / 48.06722°N 12.86361°E / 48.06722; 12.86361
Country	Austria
State	Upper Austria
Region	Innviertel
Municipality	Tarsdorf
Established	since at least 1070
Named for	6th century man called Focko
Population
- Total	104
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	5121
Area code(s)	06278
Licence plate	BR

Fucking (German pronunciation: [ˈfʊkɪŋ]) is an Austrian village^[2] in the municipality of Tarsdorf,^[3] in the Innviertel region of western Upper Austria. The village is located 33 kilometres (21 mi) north of Salzburg, four kilometres (2.5 mi) east of the German border.

Despite having a population of only 104 people, the village has become famous for its name, particularly in the English-speaking world. Its road signs are a popular attraction for visitors, and they were often stolen by souvenir-hunting tourists until 2005 when they were modified to be theft-resistant.

1 Etymology
2 Demographics and transportation
3 Name and notoriety
4 References
5 External links

Etymology

It is believed that the settlement was founded around the 6th century by Focko, a Bavarian nobleman. The existence of the village was documented for the first time in 1070 and historical records show that some twenty years later the lord was Adalpertus de Fucingin. The spelling of the name has evolved over the years; it is first recorded in historical sources with the spelling as Vucchingen in 1070, Fukching in 1303,^[4] Fugkhing in 1532, and in the modern spelling Fucking in the 18th century,^[5] which is pronounced with the vowel oo as in book.^[6] The ending -ing is an old Germanic suffix indicating the people of the root word to which it is attached; thus Fucking means "(place of) Focko’s people."^[7]

Demographics and transportation

In the Austrian census conducted by Statistik Austria on 15 May 2001, it was recorded the village had a population of 93.^[8] The Age reported in 2005 the village had a population of 104 and a total number of 32 houses.^[5]

There is a bus service operated by OÖVV between Schärding and Eggerding which makes stops at Unterfucking (Lower Fucking) and Oberfucking (Upper Fucking). Bus route 2302 operates once a day from Monday to Friday.^[9]

Name and notoriety

Fucking's most famous feature are four traffic signs with its name on it, beside which tourists still stop to have their photograph taken, owing to the identical spelling to a form of the English-language profanity "fuck". One version of the sign features the village name with an additional sign beneath it, with the words "Bitte — nicht so schnell!", which translates from German into English as "Please — not so fast!" The lower sign - which features an illustration of two children - is meant to inform drivers to watch their speed, but tourists see this as a double-meaning coupled with the village name.^[10]

British and American soldiers who were based in nearby Salzburg noticed the name after World War II, and they began to travel to the village to have their photos taken beside the signs whilst striking various poses. The local residents, the Fuckingers, were considerably bemused as they had not previously been aware of the meaning of their village's name in English.^[5] Since then, the number of visitors to Fucking has increased, with the occasional visit by a tour bus.^[6]

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 The Sound of Music was filmed. The Japanese want Hitler's birthplace in Braunau. But for the British, it's all about Fucking."^[11] Augustina Lindlbauer, the manager of an area guesthouse, noted that the area had lakes, forests and vistas worth visiting, but there was an "obsession with Fucking". Lindlbauer recalled how she had to explain to a British female tourist "that there were no Fucking postcards."^[12]

The road signs were commonly stolen as souvenirs,^[10] – the only crime which has been reported in the village ^[13]. This cost some 300 Euros to replace each stolen sign, and the costs were reflected in the taxes that local residents pay.^[5] In 2004, due mainly to the stolen signs, a vote was held on changing the village's name, but the residents voted against doing so.^[7] Tarsdorf municipality's mayor Siegfried Hauppl stated that it was decided to keep the name as it had existed for 800 years,^[7] and further stated that "(e)veryone here knows what it means in English, but for us Fucking is Fucking — and it's going to stay Fucking."^[14]

After a spate of thefts, which included the theft of all four signs in one single night, and a total of fifteen over a period of several years, in August 2005 the road signs were replaced with theft-resistant signs welded to steel and secured in concrete to prevent further chances of the sign being stolen.^[5]^[15] Mayor Hauppl said that officials were fed up with English-speaking tourists stealing the signs, and noted that with the newly installed signs it would take all night to steal one. Hauppl said that tourists, and the money they bring to the area, were welcome, but locals were sick of replacing the signs.^[1]^[16] Kommandant Schmidtberger, the local police chief, also hinted at other avenues to stop what he calls "foreign criminals" from disturbing order in the village. Schmidtberger, whilst not disclosing what other options were on the table, stated "What they are, I am not at liberty to disclose, but 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."^[13]

A local resident of the village, Josef Winkler, attempted to cash in on the village's fame by setting up a website (www.fucking.at), on which he sold t-shirts featuring the village road signs, with the slogan "I like Fucking in Austria" printed on them. According to Winkler, they were selling well, and he was in negotiations with Maxim magazine regarding possible promotions, but was forced to stop his venture after being shouted at and threatened in the street. Winkler said "It was a bit of fun that didn't hurt anyone, but I found out that in this region you just can't do something like that. The whole thing became a real trial for me and I had to stop. People are very traditional here."^[13]

In November 2008 the village hosted the Festival of the Fuck Bands music festival, which featured bands Fucked Up, Holy Fuck, Fuck and Fuck Buttons.^[17]

In July 2009 it was announced that the village would be installing numerous CCTV cameras in an attempt to deter summertime tourists from filming themselves having sexual intercourse in front of the Fucking signs. A resident of the village said that installing cameras around the village may make tourists think twice and instead choose to only have a photograph taken in front of the sign.^[18] Juergen Stoll, the operator of a guesthouse at Wank, close to the Austrian-German border, stated that the residents of Fucking should be cashing in on its name, although Mayor Franz Meindl states "We don't find it funny. We just want to be left alone. We don't harm anyone and just want to live in peace.",^[19] and that he would prefer not to see the village being featured in the press anymore.^[20] Meindl appears to have the opposite view of former Mayor Hauppl, by proclaiming that residents wish for their village to be left alone by tourists.^[15]

Putting the problem in context, however, tz-online notes that numerous villages across the border in Germany have names that are "unfortunate" even in German, including Affendorf (Monkey Village), Faulebutter (Putrid Butter), Fickmühlen (Fuck Mill), Himmelreich (Kingdom of Heaven), Katzenhirn (Cat Brain), Plöd (Stupid), Regenmantel (Raincoat), Sklavenhaus (Slave House) and Warzen (Warts).^[21]