Published 18:05 IST, November 27th 2020

Austrian village changes name to ‘Fugging’ for endless mockery; netizens are 'mourning'

Austrian villagers were seemingly fed up with people that photographed themselves in front of the signposts and later mocked the name on the internet

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In an absurd situation, residents of an Austrian village on November 26 changed the name of the village to ‘Fugging’ with effect from January 1, 2021, after they were seemingly tired of trolls, online mockery, and tourists stealing the signposts. The town council announced that it finally achieved the milestone after attempting to rename the town for several years. Located in Upper Austria, the village is inhabited by around 100 people and its ‘awkward’ name has invited a lot of jokes. Mayor Andrea Holzner told Austrian broadcaster Oe24 that the town will be spelled as Fugging from the year 2021.

According to the Austrian broadcaster, with social media, the village’s name gained popularity after it was frequently included in the list of funniest places with the most ‘unusual’ names. The residents were also frustrated with the thefts of the road signposts and other banners that the town flashed with its name on. People photographed themselves in front of the signposts and later mocked the name on the internet. While the town has sustained its name for approximately 1000 years, recently, it had become a joke for activists. Last year, some local residents inserted messages to promote climate change activism above and below the signpost. The message read: ‘Our climate is — Fu**ing — important!”.

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Inspired a pale lager

The village located some 350 kilometers east of Vienna still hasn’t made clear whether they were going to take down the signs. Almost all the banners that are installed across the village are synonymous with the English language derogatory term and have been a subject of jokes and ironic puns online. The name had also inspired a pale lager, named “Fu**ing Hell” and a movie. With news of the renaming surfacing online, the village was once again in the spotlight as Twitter users cracked jokes sharing the council’s press release. “The Austrian village has decided to rename itself Fugging. No idea why,” a tweet read, putting the update sarcastically.