A Guide to Fucking (a Village) in Austria

Yes, there is indeed a village called "Fucking" in Upper Austria, it is indeed spelled like that and this is no joke. You might have come across Fucking before in your life, as comedians pick it up once in a while and Fucking seems to be one of the favourite things to look at online with the "Google Earth" virtual sightseeing community. So eventually I realised that there′s no way to get around Fucking being Austrian myself and doing a website on the country. Let me start with the past.

Fucking in Austria has a long history: Its oldest record dates back to 1070. As I have stated in my article about the history of Austria, Bavarian tribes migrated into the region of what is Northern Austria today in the 6th century. Even today you can still see how far they got (before they encountered Slavonic settlers in the South) by villages and towns that end on the suffix of "-ing" or "-ig". This suffix refers to "community" or "people". One of the Bavarian noblemen migrating into Austria was a man called Focko. I do not know how he got his name but hope that he was proud of it.

The Meaning of Fucking finally Revealed

The settlement that he ruled over referred to him as the landlord in its name: "Fockoing" therefore meant "community or people of Focko". This is the etymologic origin of Fucking. Today, it is still little more than a settlement with a mere 91 residents ("Fuckers"?). The village, which is located in the district of Braunau am Inn, nonetheless attracts a lot of attention. Fucking often appears in the media - for some peculiar reason, it is usually English-speaking programs that pay attention to the village with the easy-to-remember-name.

Now back to the troubles that Fucking causes. Legend has it that nobody in the village ever cared a great deal about what English-speaking folks could think if they heard of their place until WWII ended and Upper Austria faced the arrival of American soldiers. As most soldiers, they liked Fucking in general and the community plate (an official traffic sign!) started to disappear.

Since Austrians are generally both hospital and familiar with the art of selling souvenirs, the people of Fucking soon started to market themselves. T-shirts with "I like Fucking in Austria" were sold and busses full of tourists arrived to get their picture taken next to the community plate. This did not help to end the trouble of having the sign stolen over and over again.

More Funny Places to Explore

In 2005, a special "high-security-version" of the usually simple Austrian community signs was made for Fucking. Concrete secured the metal holders and a locksmith screwed the plate of Fucking with extra care. Since then, the small but steady stream of tourists has continued, but the signs are still in place.

Fucking is not the only community that is blessed with a funny English reading due to the Bavarian suffix of "-ing". Just across the boarder to Germany you can go to Kissing, Petting, Attaching and Mailing. Personally, I like Rottenegg in Upper Austria second-best after Fucking. To destroy one illusion: In German the name is actually pronounced more like "Foo-king" and doesn′t mean anything rude at all.

Now to the Happy End: Once I was driving around the area of a pretty and charming town called Milton Keynes in England, which is blessed with an amazing array of roundabouts. There I discovered the revenge for Fucking on a traffic sign: It indicated an area, quarter or community named "Furzton". Pronounced and read in German this means "Fart-sound". Hooray! Fucking is not alone in the World of cross-linguistic entertainment!

Back to: "Upper Austria Sightseeing Guide"

Sightseeing by Austrian Province

Bregenz and Vorarlberg - Innsbruck and Tyrol - Salzburg - Salzkammergut - Graz and Styria - Klagenfurt and Carinthia - Wachau and Lower Austria - Vienna - Burgenland

Further Reading

Find Fucking in Austria via Google Maps

Austria and Sex (no village, the real deal)