Humor not lost

Stone as a creative response to “Taferl” theft

This is what the new "town sign" in Stein looks like.(Bild: zVg)

In Sankt Marien, previously unknown town sign thieves have been up to mischief for the first time. They stole two of the three taferl in the village of Stein. However, a creative and humorous replacement followed: instead of the sign with the inscription Stein, a small boulder now hangs in the metal housing. 

Screaming chicken or fucking! It comes as no surprise that these place name signs were often very popular with thieves. But now, for the first time, two of the three signs for the village of Stein in the municipality of Sankt Marien have disappeared in a way that is still unexplained. Instead, a large stone hangs in the metal holder. Here too, it is still unclear who put it up.

The municipality filed a complaint
"We obviously haven't lost our sense of humor. Someone was pretty creative," smiles Mayor Walter Lazelsberger. Postscript: "Hopefully the signs from the other villages won't be stolen too, they're not so easy to copy."

Hopefully the signs from the other villages won't be stolen too, as they are not so easy to copy.

Bürgermeister Walter Lazelsberger

In any case, the municipality has already filed a complaint and requested replacement signs. A sign costs just over 1000 euros.

No indication of thieves
There is no evidence of the thieves: "There are two possibilities. Either it was vandalism or someone who has a special relationship with the word stone," says the head of the village.

There have already been renamings
It is unlikely that the village of Stein will have to change its name like Fucking (to Fugging). After all, the village in the Innviertel region was known far beyond the borders of Austria due to its similarity with an obscene English term. Just over three years ago, the last sign with the name Fucking ended up in the House of History in Vienna.