Brewmasturbatory

To the dismay of the Austrian town of Fucking, the European Union trademark authority has granted a German company the right to patent a beer called “Fucking Hell.” 

Slate

cacosyntheton (cah-co-SIN-the-ton), the nasty combiner. From the Greek, meaning “badly made.”

As every beer aficionado knows, a Hell is a kind of light ale. As every EuroRail-riding sign-stealer knows, Fucking is a small town in Austria—which, by the way, lacks a brewery.

The German company who won the patent for Fucking Hell hopes to bank on a nifty cacosyntheton, a figure that combines nasty sounds, whether they mean anything or not. For instance, the brewers might consider putting a little Tabasco sauce in their ale to produce a Bloody Hell.

Down the hatch!