Unfortunate Austrian Village May Finally Change Its Name

You wouldn’t be laughing if you were from F---ing, Austria. Well, O.K., maybe you would be, a little

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MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP / Getty Images

The Austrian town of F---ing is just north of Salzburg

You wouldn’t be laughing if you were from F—ing, Austria. The town’s residents are sick of the vulgar jokes, and they’re finally casting their ballots about changing the town’s name. Some say it’s bleeping time.

It wasn’t always this way. The tiny hamlet in northern Austria, home to 104 people, lived in peace until U.S. troops discovered the town at the end of World War II. Ever since then, residents have had to endure an endless stream of jokes and disrespectful tourists.

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At least 13 road signs from the small Austrian town have been stolen, although the vandalism is offset somewhat by a boom in sales of local postcards. (The town’s name is actually pronounced Foo-king, and not how its spelling would suggest.)

According to the Telegraph:

Experts say the town’s name is derived from Focko, a 6th Century Bavarian nobleman, and the modern spelling was adopted in the 18th Century.

Franz Meindl, the village’s mayor, said in an interview that “People are now willing to discuss changes to the spelling of the name. But first all F—ingers have to agree on whether [they] want to change it or not.”

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Some locals want to readopt its previous spelling, replacing the ck with a single or double g. The town reportedly considered changing its name back in 2005, but residents voted against it.

Erica Ho is a contributor at TIME and the editor of Map Happy. Find her on Twitter at @ericamho and Google+. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.