An Effin Shame: Facebook Blocks Irish Town for ‘Offensive’ Name

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There are some places that you can easily imagine would be offensive places to live. Then there are the places that Facebook has apparently deemed offensive for you. So begins the tale of one Effin woman who has been struggling since June to add her hometown to her Facebook page.

The problem for Ann Marie Kennedy is that she really is from a place called Effin, found in County Limerick in Ireland. And because Facebook doesn’t recognize that the such a place exists, Kennedy hasn’t been able to add it as her hometown. “It’s a great little parish,” Kennedy told the BBC. “I’d just like to put down (on Facebook), because I’m from Effin, and so would so many Effin people around the world, that they’re from Effin.”

But it looks like everything was really just an Effin mix-up. The BBC contacted Facebook and a spokesperson told them that it’s not a matter of the social media site finding the location name offensive, merely that the Effin blocking was an oversight that they’re looking to fix.

Good thing too, because Kennedy wants to let the world know where she’s from. “I’m a proud Effin woman and I always will be an Effin woman,” she said.

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