Residents of a small village in Austria will vote on whether to change the name of their town to something that they hope would be a little less popular with English-speaking tourists.
Fucking, Austria is a remote village with only 104 residents — all of whom will have a say in the possible changing of their hometown’s name.
In a televised interview, Mayor Franz Meindl explained that this has been a major issue for the town.
“People are now willing to discuss changes to the spelling of the name,” he announced. “But first all Fuckingers have to agree on whether want to change it or not.”
The residents will decide whether they want to change the spelling of the name or change the name altogether. Either way, some are grateful for the chance.
“When you order something from a catalogue, for example, and you give the address, there’s snickering, always snickering,” Jo Lindlbauer said to ABC News. Lindlbauer is a local business owner who runs a bed and breakfast.
Residents have also complained that tourists have been stealing their street signs.
This is not the first time that the town has considered a name change. In 1996, an alteration was voted down. Some residents do not have a problem with the name as it is — one resident told ABC News that the change would be “ridiculous.”
“We don’t suffer because of the name,” she said before hanging up the phone.
Websites have been created making fun of the town’s name, which is pronounced Fooking. However, it was when people began to make apparently random phone calls to residents to make fun of the name that the town got moving.
The British press reported Meindl’s frustration following the prank calls: “The phone calls are really the final straw.”