Wednesday 1 February 2012

the neighbourhood goes to punk

As a family, we have been intrigued, ok maybe obsessed, with this van since we arrived in September.  


We see it everywhere - at the barn down the road, driving past our chalet, at the grocery store, outside the bakery, and most hilariously, in the parking lot of the youth community centre.  It's hard to miss because it is so striking and inappropriate and funny.  It has become familial practice to half sing, half shout out "the fucks" whenever we see it. Charming.  

At first sight, the kids pointed and giggled.  I tried to justify the shocking use of language by reminding them that people here speak german and swiss-german.  Perhaps, I said, it means something else.  "Nice try" they howled, "fuck is the same in every language".  Maybe there is a colloquialism that we are missing?

I have tried to find out more, but googling "the fucks" leads to some REALLY inappropriate results, ones that I choose to believe don't have anything to do with our local red van.  What I have uncovered so far is that The Fucks are a punk rock band based here in Saanen.  They have been making music since 2003 and released their first CD in 2010.  Not much to go on, so the fascination endures.....

4 comments:

  1. Love it! See if you can pick up some of their concert t-shirts.

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  2. surely it beats (for name alone) Mister Mister, The Cure, The Police, The Who, Yes, and my friend's band in college: the plastic exploding policemen.

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  3. I love it!! Great post! It's funny how non-native English speakers can use the word without blinking.

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  4. My goddaughter used to sing for this group. I asked her why they decided on that name? She answered the original group members asked some other better known swiss group about names and their answer was "choose something that people will remember". When they suggested the "F**ks" that band thought it was good. If you want more information send me your questions and I will ask my goddaughter.

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