Fränkli vs Weisswürstli

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The Swiss are a (rightfully) proud nation. One thing a foreigner learns quickly is not to belittle their currency as "Fränkli" or "Räppli" like an innocent (and clueless) German might do. (*) The more surprised I was when I saw that the Swiss themselves belittle one of the main staples of culinary Munich, the Weisswurst, as Weisswürstli. I wonder whether there have been Bavarians going berserk at Zurich's Globus department store, where they saw this:

If Germany ever needs an excuse for starting a war against Switzerland, this is it.


(*) The 'li' at the end of a word is a common sometimes diminutive postfix that distinguishes Swiss German, the spoken language, from High German, the written language. Swiss German for beginners takes a High German word and appends a 'li' at the end. Disclaimer: Use this recommendation at your own risk. Applied too often and in the wrong circumstances might get you a thorough beating by members of this otherwise generally peaceful nation. As I said elsewhere, words are a serious matter.

Copyright (©) 2007 Dirk Riehle. Some rights reserved. (Creative Commons License BY-NC-SA.) Original Web Location: http://www.riehle.org