{"id":13742,"date":"2022-01-25T18:05:03","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T18:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=13742"},"modified":"2022-01-25T18:05:03","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T18:05:03","slug":"you-wont-believe-these-crazy-german-place-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/you-wont-believe-these-crazy-german-place-names\/","title":{"rendered":"You Won&#8217;t Believe These Crazy German Place Names"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every country has some strange\u00a0<em>Ortsnamen\u00a0<\/em>(m, place names). Take American Fork in Utah, or Shitterton in Dorset, UK. And we have our own crazy German place names! Here&#8217;s a few that where you can visit and you can take your picture next to the <em>Ortsschild\u00a0<\/em>(n, place name sign). Oh, and also how you pronounce them properly. Finally, one place even changed its name because it all got a little too crazy!<\/p>\n<h1><strong><em>Fischamend<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Krampuslauf in Fischamend\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ptwvm_5nXOc?start=121&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-playlist wp-audio-playlist wp-playlist-light\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-current-item\"><\/div>\n\t\t<audio controls=\"controls\" preload=\"none\" width=\"640\"\n\t\t\t><\/audio>\n\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-next\"><\/div>\n\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-prev\"><\/div>\n\t<noscript>\n\t<ol>\n\t\t<li><a href='https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Fischamend.mp3'>Fischamend<\/a><\/li>\t<\/ol>\n\t<\/noscript>\n\t<script type=\"application\/json\" class=\"wp-playlist-script\">{\"type\":\"audio\",\"tracklist\":true,\"tracknumbers\":true,\"images\":true,\"artists\":true,\"tracks\":[{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Fischamend.mp3\",\"type\":\"audio\/mpeg\",\"title\":\"Fischamend\",\"caption\":\"\",\"description\":\"\\\"Fischamend\\\". Released: 2022.\",\"meta\":{\"year\":\"2022\",\"length_formatted\":\"0:01\"},\"image\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64},\"thumb\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64}}]}<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\t\n<p>A small town in Austria close to Vienna is called <em>Fischamend<\/em>, which means &#8220;Fish in the end&#8221;! You even pronounce it that way, and\u00a0<em>das Wappen\u00a0<\/em>(crest) of the town has a fish on it, too.<\/p>\n<p>But the name doesn&#8217;t come from some odd tradition where the fish comes last. It comes from\u00a0<em>Fisch-Allmende<\/em>, which means a common agricultural area at the river\u00a0<em>Fischa<\/em>, a small <em>Nebenfluss\u00a0<\/em>(m, tributary) of the\u00a0<em>Donau\u00a0<\/em>(Danube).<\/p>\n<p>The town is also known for its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-companions-of-saint-nicholas\/\"><em>Krampustreffen\u00a0<\/em>(Krampus meetups)<\/a>. See the video above.<\/p>\n<h1><strong><em>Fickm\u00fchlen<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_13745\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/G-rXfLPhWys\" aria-label=\"Lola Delabays G RXfLPhWys Unsplash 1 1024x683\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13745\" class=\"size-large wp-image-13745\"  alt=\"Crazy German Place Names \" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1-1024x683.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-13745\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Perhaps they had something like this in mind? (Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@ldlbs?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Lola Delabays<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/s\/photos\/moulin-rouge?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-playlist wp-audio-playlist wp-playlist-light\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-current-item\"><\/div>\n\t\t<audio controls=\"controls\" preload=\"none\" width=\"640\"\n\t\t\t><\/audio>\n\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-next\"><\/div>\n\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-prev\"><\/div>\n\t<noscript>\n\t<ol>\n\t\t<li><a href='https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Fickmuhlen.mp3'>Fickm\u00fchlen<\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Fickenhof.mp3'>Fickenhof<\/a><\/li>\t<\/ol>\n\t<\/noscript>\n\t<script type=\"application\/json\" class=\"wp-playlist-script\">{\"type\":\"audio\",\"tracklist\":true,\"tracknumbers\":true,\"images\":true,\"artists\":true,\"tracks\":[{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Fickmuhlen.mp3\",\"type\":\"audio\/mpeg\",\"title\":\"Fickm\\u00fchlen\",\"caption\":\"\",\"description\":\"\\\"Fickm\\u00fchlen\\\". Released: 2022.\",\"meta\":{\"year\":\"2022\",\"length_formatted\":\"0:01\"},\"image\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64},\"thumb\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64}},{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Fickenhof.mp3\",\"type\":\"audio\/mpeg\",\"title\":\"Fickenhof\",\"caption\":\"\",\"description\":\"\\\"Fickenhof\\\". Released: 2022.\",\"meta\":{\"year\":\"2022\",\"length_formatted\":\"0:01\"},\"image\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64},\"thumb\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64}}]}<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\t\n<p>And here come the explicit names.\u00a0<em>Fickm\u00fchlen<\/em>, roughly translated as &#8220;F*ck Mills&#8221; is definitely a questionable name for a town. But like\u00a0<em>Fickenhof <\/em>(F*ck Yard), there are some towns that have the word <em>Ficken <\/em>(to f*ck) in them. These places probably didn&#8217;t have this intention. So what does, or did it, mean?<\/p>\n<p>If you go back to the origin of the word <em>f<\/em><em>icken<\/em>, you find out that it meant &#8220;to rub&#8221;. In relation to a mill, this could be seen as the function of the millstones &#8211; they rub against each other to mill grain. So the town\u00a0<em>Fickm\u00fchlen<\/em> could just indicate the presence of such mills in the town, the same with other towns that carry <em>ficken<\/em> in their name. Just unfortunate that the later vulgar meaning is the only one left for this word. If you want to say &#8220;to rub&#8221;, you simply say\u00a0<em>reiben<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h1><strong><em>Fucking<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bawmxQE_Fj0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-playlist wp-audio-playlist wp-playlist-light\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-current-item\"><\/div>\n\t\t<audio controls=\"controls\" preload=\"none\" width=\"640\"\n\t\t\t><\/audio>\n\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-next\"><\/div>\n\t<div class=\"wp-playlist-prev\"><\/div>\n\t<noscript>\n\t<ol>\n\t\t<li><a href='https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Fucking.mp3'>Fucking<\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Petting.mp3'>Petting<\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Titting.mp3'>Titting<\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Fugging.mp3'>Fugging<\/a><\/li>\t<\/ol>\n\t<\/noscript>\n\t<script type=\"application\/json\" class=\"wp-playlist-script\">{\"type\":\"audio\",\"tracklist\":true,\"tracknumbers\":true,\"images\":true,\"artists\":true,\"tracks\":[{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Fucking.mp3\",\"type\":\"audio\/mpeg\",\"title\":\"Fucking\",\"caption\":\"\",\"description\":\"\\\"Fucking\\\". Released: 2022.\",\"meta\":{\"year\":\"2022\",\"length_formatted\":\"0:01\"},\"image\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64},\"thumb\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64}},{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Petting.mp3\",\"type\":\"audio\/mpeg\",\"title\":\"Petting\",\"caption\":\"\",\"description\":\"\\\"Petting\\\". Released: 2022.\",\"meta\":{\"year\":\"2022\",\"length_formatted\":\"0:01\"},\"image\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64},\"thumb\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64}},{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Titting.mp3\",\"type\":\"audio\/mpeg\",\"title\":\"Titting\",\"caption\":\"\",\"description\":\"\\\"Titting\\\". Released: 2022.\",\"meta\":{\"year\":\"2022\",\"length_formatted\":\"0:01\"},\"image\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64},\"thumb\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64}},{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/Fugging.mp3\",\"type\":\"audio\/mpeg\",\"title\":\"Fugging\",\"caption\":\"\",\"description\":\"\\\"Fugging\\\". Released: 2022.\",\"meta\":{\"year\":\"2022\",\"length_formatted\":\"0:01\"},\"image\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64},\"thumb\":{\"src\":\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/audio.svg\",\"width\":48,\"height\":64}}]}<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\t\n<p>Simply famous for its name, the Austrian town of\u00a0<em>Fucking<\/em> made quite the name for itself. The <em>-ing\u00a0<\/em>ending is quite common in the south of Germany and Austria. It&#8217;s just unfortunate that it is also a common ending in the world&#8217;s most spoken language! So apart from\u00a0<em>Fucking<\/em>, there are\u00a0<em>Petting\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>Titting<\/em>. Great!<\/p>\n<p>With the ubiquity of the word\u00a0<em>Fucking\u00a0<\/em>in vulgar English, you can imagine that particularly that town got a lot of attention. When you enter the little town of just about 100 people in the Austrian Alps, you can see its name right there, on the <em>Ortsschild<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p>As you can imagine, some people thought this was so hilarious that they stole the\u00a0<em>Ortsschild<\/em>. Apart from that problem, the town was the butt of many jokes (like in the video above). Even The Grand Tour went through the town and some others with questionable names (see below).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Clarkson, Hammond and May Have SatNav Trouble on The Romantic Road | The Grand Tour\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rJ3HXMGlEBY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It got so bad that the town decided to change its name to <em>Fugging <\/em>in 2020. The pronunciation is basically the same, but it should solve the PR situation. However, the new\u00a0<em>Ortsschild\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/kurier.at\/chronik\/oberoesterreich\/fugging-wurde-wieder-zu-fucking-ortstafeln-beschmiert\/401123724\">got some graffiti to revert its name to the old\u00a0<em>Fucking<\/em>&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>There are LOTS more wild place names in the German-speaking world! Do you have examples? Or what about place names in your country? Let me know in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1-350x233.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Crazy German Place Names\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/01\/lola-delabays-G-rXfLPhWys-unsplash-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Every country has some strange\u00a0Ortsnamen\u00a0(m, place names). Take American Fork in Utah, or Shitterton in Dorset, UK. And we have our own crazy German place names! Here&#8217;s a few that where you can visit and you can take your picture next to the Ortsschild\u00a0(n, place name sign). Oh, and also how you pronounce them properly&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/you-wont-believe-these-crazy-german-place-names\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":13745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,551760,547385],"tags":[916,358425,952,95066,66167,551845,376027],"class_list":["post-13742","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-slang","category-travel-geography","tag-austria","tag-geography-2","tag-german-names","tag-history-2","tag-krampus","tag-place-names","tag-travel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13742"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13753,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13742\/revisions\/13753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}