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Residents of the picture postcard Austrian village of F***ing are to vote this week about whether to change the name.

The final straw has been a growing number of calls by pranksters who ring up locals and ask in English "Is That F***ing" - before hanging up.

F***ing Mayor Franz Meindl said the village's road signs were regularly stolen - even though they were now welded on steel posts set in concrete.

"The phone calls are really the final straw," he said.

Couples have also been spotted romping naked in front of the signs, and local entrepreneurs cashed in by selling F***ing postcards, F***ing Christmas cards and even F***ing beer.

Residents last voted on the subject in 1996 when it decided to keep the name despite increasing numbers of tourists posing for photographs next to the signs.

An alternative proposal before the 100 residents is to change the village's name to 'Fugging'

Historians have found that in the 16th century, the name was spelled with 'g' and many want this to be reinstated.

Mayor Meindl added: "I always wanted the name to stay but it's just got too much now.

"The only problem is that we need all of the F***ing residents to agree to the name change, everyone needs to agree for it to happen."