EXCUSE ME? *censored*, Austria WILL CHANGE ITS NAME ON JANUARY 1, 2021 DUE TO TOURISM AND BACKLASH FROM ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES
IT'S FOR A GOOD REASON. THE VILLAGE OF F*CKING, AUSTRIA IS CHANGING ITS NAME TO FUGGING EFFECTIVE 1/1/2021; BY THE WAY, IN LOWER AUSTRIA, THERE WAS ALSO A VILLAGE NAMED F*CKING IN LOWER AUSTRIA THAT ALSO CHANGED ITS NAME AROUND 1836 TO FUGGING INSTEAD. LANGUAGE IS SO WEIRD, LET ME TELL YOU, FOR THESE REASONS:
1) Humans can't understand every language, so when someone from elsewhere tries to talk to you, you can't talk back to them unless you learn the language.
2) Language differs. In some places, a word/phrase is OK, but in other places, it may be bad or offensive. That's how the village of F*cking, Austria got its name; in Austrian, the village's name translates into "place of Focko's people; the founder of the village, therefore it's not offensive in Austria; however, in English, the name of the village is a swear/bad word, and this village (was) a popular tourist attraction, with the sign with the name of the village being frequently stolen by tourists/vistors until 2005, when the signs were made theft-resistent.
So, even if you're not from the US, watch your language...
Credit: Tobias ToMar Maier on Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 3.0 license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en, changes made to the picture were drawing over the u in f*cking to censor the sign's vulgar name.
Other languages do have some funny meanings to people from another country!!!
ReplyDeleteTotally true, and too bad it can't keep its long-held local name, because it's offensive in another country; it's not very often that a village has to change its name because of such a scenario or just because! It's gonna be hard for the locals to remember its new name, Fugging. But also, isn't fugging like an innuendo for the f word, like fricking/freaking? At least it's not, you know...
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