So here's some satisfyingly juvenile humour, for which I make little or no apology, since a little every now and again is ok. One of the things I love about driving cross country in the USA is the sometimes amusing (or just downright strange) names you find that some towns have. My favourite is still Peculiar, in Missouri. I've driven past it three times now and every time I've been meaning to stop and go and see what it is like. I've been secretly hoping that the laws of Physics would not be quite right....not weirdly so.... just peculiar. But I have never stopped there, so I don't know. (I just checked one of the city's official websites. There's a FAQ section with nothing in it, so far....You would think that would be the number one question. Anyway, here is a Wikipedia entry.) Anyway, I'm still not entirely sure that this is not an early, or late, April Fool joke, but there are several stories in several newspapers about a town in Austria, called F***ing. (There are impressionable young people reading, so I've replaced three letters....) As you might imagine -if you know our sort- this is to the delight of the British tourists, who have been annoying the residents with their sign-stealing, questions, and general snorting and giggling. Here's a link, and here's another*. (Strangely I can't find a link to an article in my old standby, the Guardian, so just to be bold, I'll give you a link from the Telegraph.) Some extracts, so that you get the idea of the tone of the discussion and reporting:
"It may be very amusing for you British, but F---ing is simply F---ing to us. What is this big F---ing joke? It is puerile."
...also...
Local guide Andreas Behmueller said it was only the British that had a fixation with F---ing. "The Germans all want to see the Mozart house in Salzburg," he explained. "Every American seems to care only about 'The Sound of Music' (the 1965 film shot around Salzburg). The occasional Japanese wants to see Hitler's birthplace in Braunau. "But for the British, it's all about F---ing."
...and...
"Just this morning I had to tell an English lady who stopped by that there were no F---ing postcards."
I really can't think of anything else to say.... -cvj *Thanks Cathy!
