Folk etymology (Was Re: Swiss enchiladas)

[Peter Richardson]

Thanks, Beverly. It's hard for a speaker of Swiss German to sit here and
watch all this speculation flying by on screen. 'Schwyzertueuetsch' is as
close as my keyboard will allow me to get, too. Declaring that Swiss
German doesn't exist would be big news to the 4 million + native speakers
of the stuff. Yes, one does differentiate between Zueritueuetsch and
Churer Tueuetsch just as one identifies speakers right away not only by
their home canton, but their home town as well. When I called the Swiss
Consulate and asked about some films, I received as an answer the
question: "Bad Ragaz?" The person was simply identifying me by my version
of her native language; unfortunately, she was about 15 miles too far
north.

And yes, there are a few different kinds of cheese made over there. Start
by identifying them by each alp that produces them. (All this reminds me
that we're heading into fondue season, so "En Guete" to all...)

Peter Richardson

On Sat, 30 Oct 1999, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

> I don't know who "they" are, but a former student of mine from die Schweiz
> told me the term 'Schwyzertueuetsch' is commonly used (and note his
> spelling, with 'y' and a doubled umlauted vowel, presumably to signal
> lengthening ['ue'  substitutes for my lack of the umlaut diacritic--how do