posted on August 29, 2005 10:13:35 AM new
Hopefully no one will go bonkers over this as I didn't write it. I've copied and pasted it from a news headline.
Brits driving Austrians bonkers over rude village name
Sun Aug 28, 6:35 AM ET
LONDON, (AFP) - British tourists have left the residents of one charming Austrian village effing and blinding by constantly stealing the signs for their oddly-named village.
While British visitors are finding it hilarious, the residents of F---ing are failing to see the funny side, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
Only one kind of crimimal ever stalks the sleepy 32-house village near Salzburg on the German border -- cheeky British tourists armed with a sense of humour and a screwdriver.
But the local authorities are hitting back and with the signs now set in concrete, police chief Kommandant Schmidtberger is on the lookout.
"We will not stand for the F---ing signs being removed," the officer told the broadsheet.
"It may be very amusing for you British, but F---ing is simply F---ing to us. What is this big F---ing joke? It is puerile."
Local guide Andreas Behmueller said it was only the British that had a fixation with F---ing.
"The Germans all want to see the Mozart house in Salzburg," he explained.
"Every American seems to care only about 'The Sound of Music' (the 1965 film shot around Salzburg). The occasional Japanese wants to see Hitler's birthplace in Braunau.
"But for the British, it's all about F---ing."
Guesthouse boss Augustina Lindlbauer described the village's breathtaking lakes, forests and vistas.
"Yet still there is this obsession with F---ing," she said.
"Just this morning I had to tell an English lady who stopped by that there were no F---ing postcards."
posted on August 29, 2005 10:47:25 AM new
Wikipedia has a history of the town name going back before the middle ages and shows a picture of one of the signs. It is somewhat amusing to the Anglophones.
posted on August 29, 2005 11:54:26 AM new
I don't know what the problem is. I stopped in the effing petrol station before heading over to the effing Diner for some really tasty effing fish and chips. The effing waitress was very nice but the effing Mayor who was sitting at the counter was a bit annoying. All in all though, I found the effing people to be friendly. I was so impressed that I took their ways back to my hometown but the people didn't catch on like I thought. So I find myself constantly telling people, "thats no effing way to do that." I don't get why they give me weird looks.
