Tuesday, December 3, 2013

What's In an Address?

There are plenty of towns with odd names  that I have come across,but Fucking,Austria was a new one to me and immediately made the top of my list. Pronounced Fooking (rhymes with looking) it is believed to have been founded in the 6th century by a Bavarian nobleman named Focko. The spelling of the name evolved over the years and ended up with the current spelling in the 18th century. Fucking's most famous feature is four traffic signs with its name on them,which tourist enjoy taking photos of. It is a small village (population 104) and as the road signs were commonly stolen as souvenirs something had to be done to prevent the thefts. A vote to change the name of the village was turned down by the residents. In August of 2005 the signs were replaced with theft resistant ones. Oh,in case you are wondering...there are no Fucking postcards!

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