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18. 04. 12. - 11:15

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18. 04. 12. - 11:15

F***ing Had Enough

Michael Leidig

Residents of a picture postcard Austrian village named Fucking are to vote this week about whether to change the name.

The final straw has been a growing number of calls by pranksters from abroad who ring up locals and ask in English "Is That Fucking" - before bursting into laughter and hanging up.

"The phone calls are really the final straw", said local Mayor Franz Meindl, who confirmed that the villages street signs were regularly stolen even though they had been welded on steel posts set in concrete in the ground.

Drivers heading into the village often disturbed naked couples romping in front of the signs, and local entrepreneurs made the situation worse by flogging off Fucking postcards - Fucking Christmas cards and even more recently a Fucking beer.

Residents last voted on the subject in 1996 when it decided to keep the name despite problems caused by American servicemen from across the border in Germany that drove to the region just to be photographed in front of signs. They then sent the snaps back home to their girlfriends and wives.

If the name change goes ahead, they will be following in the footsteps of stadium bosses in Switzerland who were forced to change their name from Wankdorf because red-faced stars were too embarrassed to play there.

The name of the venue - in Bern - was changed to Stade de Suisse after concert dates dried up. One of the few who did not cancel was Robbie Williams who played in front of 40,000 fans and asked the crowd: "Is this place really called ‘Wankdorf’? What kind of name is that?"

The name is taken from a neighbourhood in Bern and comes from the word 'Wank' meaning to sway or rock from side to side and 'Dorf' meaning village. But the Wankdorf shopping centre next door to the stadium kept it's name - and the Swiss village of Wank also kept its name. In fact two years ago Wank residents urged the Fucking residents to lighten up - open a few guests houses and sell souvenirs to cash in on their fame.

The Wank Guest House, they said, was full all year round.

But the suggestion failed to win any supporters among the 100 residents of the village of Fucking, who are so fed up that they are this week gathering in the village hall to decide whether to change the spelling of Fucking to either 'Fuking' or 'Fugging'

Historians have found that in the 16th Century Fucking was spelled with g instead of ck and many want this to be reinstated.

Local mayor Franz Meindl added: "I always wanted the name to stay but it's just got too much now. The only problem is that we need all of the Fucking residents to agree to the name change, everyone needs to agree for it to happen.

"As you can imagine there are heated discussions about the name change."

If the name change does go ahead there will still be plenty to amuse the pranksters when Fucking vanishes.

Also available on the online Austrian telephone book are the villages of "Oberfucking" "Windpassing", "Wankham" and "Rottenegg".

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