I was told by a Swiss-German chap that "höflich" and "freundlich" are synonyms. If that really true ?

One is being polite and the other being friendly.

Not according to my native informant, who says that these two concepts are identical.

Rather like when you try to explain the difference between "safety" and "security", to be met with "ah, Sicherheit".

My question then is whether there is a difference between "friendly" and "polite" in Swiss Germans' heads ? I think that there isn't.

No it's not. But being freundlich is a good step toward Hölflichkeit.

It goes even further: For Swiss Germans the concepts of "anecdote" and "generalization" are synonymous as well.

Höflich comes from "höfisch", which includes "Hof" - a king's court. So it originally means not just polite, but in an upper class way... I guess knightly would be the equivalent. Nowadays its used as polite, but that's still far from friendly.
I can be very polite without being friendly, no matter if I use English or German...in the words of Joschka Fischer (in his younger and wilder years, talking to the president of the German parliament): Mit Verlaub, Herr Präsident, Sie sind ein Arschloch!

There is a HEAVY difference between "freundlich/fründlich" und "höflich" . polite/höflich is all forms and "etiquette" while friendly/fründlich is a positive attitude. And the difference in German speaking Switzerland really matters.

hää ?

im with wollis....
in dutch it translates to hoffelijkheid. it is a bit derived from chivalry if im not mistaken. like holding doors, waiting to sit until the ladies sat down etc etc.

I still try to practice this daily and will hope to raise my (future) kids with it.
I remember in the USA I was hated by the guys for their lack of it and adored by the girls because I would do little things like that.

freundlich is simply being friendly and positive i think

I suppose it depends on your definition of "identical concept". But no, the two words most certainly aren't synonymous.


Absolutely.

Your local obviously is not very good at explaining languages, maybe his English (or Swiss German) is not up to par? It's like Wolli (and the others) said.

Oops.

I've just realised that I've spent the past nine years saying "courteously" instead of "hopefully"

That would explain some odd looks I've been given....

If you look at pragmatics of language i can understand Bam's informant. "fründli grüesse" is more in usage by swiss germans than "höfli grüesse" > to greet politely

It isn't just a question of vocabulary.
The way we think is conditioned by the words that we use in our internal dialogue. The language in which we think partly defines who we are. I am a different person depending on which language I have switched on in my head at that moment. So I suspect that there is little or no differentiation between friendly and polite in Swiss Germans' world view. Friends are something you have for life and are almost family. Everyone else is a colleague or acquaintance. This is also reflected in the word colleague which in English suggests a professional colleague but which in German means colleague or acquaintance.

It either is dialect and spoken "fründlichi Grüess" or in Standard German and written "Freundliche Grüsse". Phrases like "Höflichst grüsst ....." were in use in the 18th and 19th Century.

Once again, there is a clear and big differentiation between friendly and polite in the view of Swiss Germans.

No, a colleague in German is NOT just an acquaintance, but a colleague, be it professional, hobby-wise, club-member or colleague in military service. An acquaintance is "än Bekannte"/"ein Bekannter", and so a definite and clear difference.

Well, to put it bluntly, your suspicion is wrong.


That's why there is a difference between "Arbeitskollege", "Kollege" and "Freund".

Perhaps it's just a Basel thing, but I've heard "Kollege" used to describe even good friends, especially when the word for "friend" and "boyfriend"/"girlfriend" are interchangeable and a distinction is required.

Do not forget that here, an old Schul-Kollege may be a very good friend, or after all the years only a "Kollege" nevertheless. Only few Militär-Kollegen become good friends, while Kollegen in clubs very often ARE good friends. But Kollegen tend to be in your Freundes-Kreis. A remark: I use the English hyphenating of longer words, since the Duden-Kommission some years ago officially allowed this ! as the words become much clearer that way even if nice old expressions like
Zürichseedampfschifffahrtgesellschaftkapitäne gradually get phased out

After all, a question that could also be resolved looking it up in Duden Synonym-Wörterbuch for the standard variant Hochdeutsch