This one, you mean?

Except...

So Elu just made the word up to be sarcastic?

I remember last time in Barcelona a cyclist thought like he should really make a point by pointing his finger at his cheek in my OH's direction who was driving (meaning lack of character, at least this is the way we use it back home) and we honestly couldn't get why he was pissed off because we definitely didn't do anything wrong. Maybe he was pissed at our Swiss plates, who knows.
Oh well, life goes on and it was pretty amusing actually because it reminded us of home... I think I prefer the Swiss style tbh.

It's written into law in most of Europe to be fair:

Why do you single out Switzerland so much for characteristics which compel you to write posts on the forum when the same is true for most other places?

If you are obeying the law about not knocking down a wall on a Sunday in Switzerland, you'd be obeying a similar law in France or the UK or maybe Italy (not checked Italy so I'm not sure).

The point is that you seem to think Switzerland has unusual laws in place to upset you to the point of posting about it on a forum. I think the reality is that Switzerland has the resources and organisation to actually IMPLEMENT them. That's why it seems it's much stricter here. It's all about perspective.

Before you went off on one of your dizzy tangents, why don't you go back and read the first post or two I made on this thread today?

My query was precisely because of what you wrote above. If laws are implemented here and can be adhered to because of resources, why do people feel so strongly about disobeying the smoking ones -or is it because the SBB smoking controls have no backing in law.

I also felt that this question would be better answered by a born-and-bred Swiss so sorry that you felt left out. Shall I ask you a special question too?

I would say it is. The "anecdotal evidence" is a clear indicator for the tongue-in-cheek.
Ah well, perhaps the subtleness of certain types of humour isn't apparent to everyone

Because it made no sense. You made the massive assumption that it was Swiss people flouting the rule. I thought you'd accepted that perhaps it was not just Swiss people but any and all.

Do people feel strongly about flouting the law? Didn't they precisely do research among passengers to gauge the appetite for no-smoking areas / stations / whatever? If it wasn't wanted, why do it? Why break the rules?

Well, first you asked for "a Swiss" and now it's "born and bred Swiss". I don't see why you have to filter out anyone who is not "born and bred Swiss". I use the railways and tram system. I can see that the rule isn't especially being flouted, well, around the Zurich area, anyway. Don't know why you need Wilhelm Tell's offspring to tell you that.

I seldom use emojis and usually ignore them when reading a post.

I think the English language is rich enough to convey meaning without artificial aids. Surely?

This

I just realised i never gave you a sincere answer to that.
I've seen only few people disobeying law or rules about smoking (places).
There are two kinds of people who do that in my opinion:

1. Teenager, who obviously have to ignore any rules per default.
2. Long term smokers who might feel constricted or even personally attacked by the ever increasing amount of smoking laws. Their "law-braking" might be some form of protest.

Wherever I was with my then pregnant wife or my kids now, smokers always were very considerate, though.

And remember, zurich is not switzerland

I believe that was my line of questioning. Pose your own questions.

I'm still astonished to think that people have got their knickers so much in a twist because I said that Italian people gesticulate.

I'm pretty sure that an Italian wouldn't find that offensive any more than saying that the Swedes eat a lot of fish.

As for the Indian thing - when my wife first met me - she asked me why I did that weird thing with my head when asked a question. It took me literally years to stop doing it after spending some time on the Indian subcontinent.

I know. I haven't been to Zurich for years unless passing through or for an appointment.

It surely is. I'm flabbergasted (one of my favourite english words btw) by its richness and diversity; especially in regards of swearing. There are hashtags just about british people insult each other.

To a non native speakers like me, emotes are a usefull tool to convey an emotion when adverbs or adjectives are lacking.

To your, the writer's as well as the reader's detriment. As just demonstrated.
Apparently it needs repeating: far from everone on here is a native English speaker. Especially what you call "real Swiss" is unlikely to be, given people's typical age on here.

Your command of the English language is excellent. I can assure you that you can safely avoid using them (I wasn't being sarcastic).

Communication can be verbal and nonverbal. The way you put it, to my snowflake(y) non-native English speaker ears it sounded like you implied that their (Italians' and in all honesty, other Southern/Latin groups) gestures are somehow uncontrollable and frantic, chaotic, too vigorous. Like every time they speak.

I say, yes and no. People do tend to gesticulate more there, but when they're passionate about a subject and really want to make their point across. The frequency and the "strength" with which people use this nonverbal communication depends first of all on the situation itself, on each one's character, temperament. Even specific region.

So I can understand why you were called out on that, but I don't think Italians would be insulted.


The truth is, yes, they do tend to gesticulate more than in other places.

Thank you.
Yours too

Would you take the second line in the same way if there was no emoticon, especially given our history? Perhaps you would, yet sometimes it's better to play it safely.

Plus, written language lacks the information conveyed by facial and bodily expressions, voice timbre and volume, etc.

Absolutely. There's no need for it.

I think we all get worked up too much (me included) with regards to whether we fully appreciate the intention behind a post, be it sarcasm or irony or anything else.

(Did you spot my irony in the posts when I said I didn't like emoticons and then went ahead and used one, or was that wasted?)

Agreed, though it's not all. Among the regulars it's mostly us men.
You mean this?
"I think the English language is rich enough to convey meaning without artificial aids. Surely? "

If it was meant ironically it was indeed lost on me as you said "seldom" rather than "never", and the emoticon appears to increase your puzzlement.

I feared that if I had written "never" then one of the forum pedants would have trawled through my past posts in an endeavour to find a post of mine where I had used an emoticon.

Unlikely; you are both here, talking to one another