The Poor Fjuckers

[akirlu]

Actually, poor Fjuckbyborna, if you wanna be accurate.

Apparently creeping globalization has caught up with the inhabitants of the Swedish town of Fjuckby and they're tired of being mocked, so they petitioned the government for a name change to a variant of "windy village" that would be less risible to speakers of English (of which there are quite a few, in Sweden, thanks to superior language education). 2007 update: the government turned them down owing to insufficient town support (15 out of 60 residents).

On the other hand, with a town that small, it presumably constitutes more of a challenge to anglophone road-sign theives. And if enough signs get stolen, maybe the rest of the village will sign on to the petition...

Comments

I loved the last line of the story.

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

"If Fjuckby gets its way it is conceivable that Anusviken, Arslet and Dicken may be next in line for a swift reversal of misfortune."

Re: I loved the last line of the story.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, though I want some sort of independent confirmation that those actually exist -- I can't think that "arslet" means anything but what you think it does, even in Swedish.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

I still think Fucking, Austria has it tougher.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yep. They need to move themselves to Australia, then it would be perfectly natural.

[albionwood.livejournal.com]

Ha! Yes, who would believe there is any Fucking in Austria? Ha, ha! I collapse in mirth at my own jest!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

If they were smart they'd find some way to make money out of it.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

That seems to have been the generalized Swedish response to Britons coming up and stealing the elk-crossing signs -- making all sorts of gear with elk-crossing signage on it.

[jophan.livejournal.com]

Most of the ones who didn't sign the petition were opposed to it, not just lazy, ISTR. Their feeling is that it would be unreasonably silly to change an old placename just because the name almost means something naughty in a foreign language.

Anusviken exists, although it seems to be a bay, not a settlement. Arslet is spelled Arslätt, but the pronunciation is the same, Dicken I get no hits for at http://kartor.eniro.se/ .

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Well, it is a foreign language that every snickering teenager in the country speaks, and the naughty word in question is, IME, highly popular with them at a certain age. Not surprising -- 'fuck', especially 'fuck you' has overtones of hostility, violence, and contempt that are hard to duplicate with Swedish swearing, plus has the cachet of the exotic (sort of). It seems to go with the same age when pretending to be drunk is wildly hilarious. Both come off as strangely innocent and puppyish.

But since the town name was changed as recently as the '30s, I don't see much cause to be very attached to it, either.

Thanks for the other locational cites -- I was a bit skeptical that they would all be real towns.