“Unterschriften-Bschiss” is the Swiss-German word of the year
Published: Tuesday, Dec 3rd 2024, 07:10
Zurück zu Live Feed
The Zurich University of Applied Sciences has chosen "Unterschriften-Bschiss" as the Swiss-German word of the year. The other podium places were taken by "divers" and "Murgang".
"Signature scam" came in at number 1 in the ranking because the forging of signatures and identities on initiative collection forms by commercial signature collectors has kept Switzerland on tenterhooks this year. According to the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), trust in the democratic Swiss voting system has been severely undermined as a result.
The word "diverse" came in second place. This was because there was a lively debate in the country about how diverse personal and communal areas of life are and should be and how Switzerland should deal with this. According to the ZHAW, there are no simple answers to this question, as opinions are very diverse.
"Murgang" came in third place, or rather slipped down. Numerous debris flows irreversibly changed the Swiss landscape in 2024, the ZHAW wrote. Debris avalanches had thundered down in various places in Switzerland and the inhabitants of the Graubünden mountain village of Brienz had even had to leave their homes completely due to the threat of another major debris flow.
The ZHAW selects the words of the year for Switzerland not only in German, but in all four national languages. In French, "cessez-le-feu" (ceasefire) was voted word of the year, in Italian "non binario" (non-binary) and in Romansh "segundimorant:a" (second native:r).
The Department of Applied Linguistics at the ZHAW in Winterthur is responsible for the word of the year. It analyzed the Swiss-AL database and determined the words per language that were used more frequently or in a significantly different way than in previous years. A jury of language professionals selected the three most striking words from this list, as well as from suggestions made by the public and based on their own experience.
Last year in 2023, "Monsterbank" was voted Swiss German word of the year.
©Keystone/SDA
German 
English 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic