Morbio Inferiore is actually Italy, they just don't admit it.

(the clue is in the name )

Tom

so always start with things you wish they'd be read

From apartment to aparment.

About time you get a grip on this ftf_whomever.

I couldn't agree more with your positive and negatives. I was born Swiss but lived most of my life in England. I have recently come back to Switzerland and I have realised most of the positives and negatives on here are vice versa in England, which has made life for me here so much more difficult. I much prefer the British way of life and the people, but its all a matter of preference I guess. For example, my stepdad is as swiss as he can be, and I could never imagine him being able to live in England.

This is a nice summary

I found that the older Swiss are indeed extremely anal as you described it, but really not so direct as you say. Quite the opposite: can be quite rude, but extremely passive-aggressive.

Had a lady in front of a shop give a lecture to my 3-year-old 2 seconds after he dropped smarties on a floor and then stepped on one which went for a while like: "Oh, very nice, you eat smarties, they are nice, colourful, they are very interesting when you step on them, right, your father is watching you eating smarties, they are colourfull" etc, it went in circles for a while, hoping that I will do something. I guess.
I thought she was a bit odd, definitely never dealt with toddlers, but it seems it's the preferred way of handling the things here.

Of course, I did the most logical thing, said "sorry, but I think he didn't understand any of that", to which she angrily got away, and then we picked up the candy.

The younger generation of Swiss (under 35) are much more relaxed people. Very rarely you meet a young repressed Swiss in a big city.

You met them all? May I ask how long you have been living in Switzerland?

Don't know where you're from but don't you think that an element of the elderly can be like that anywhere? I've met proper old mitherers all around the world who can't for the life of them keep their gob shut when it's nothing to do with them.

The Swiss certainly don't have the monopoly on grumpy old farts.

I'm planning to be one myself when I reach a suitable age. Until then I'll continue to be an absolute delight.

Yes, of course, if you ask like that "is EVERYONE" that it won't work, you always have exceptions, and of course, I know many older people which are quite the opposite of what I said...

I'm making an average point, there is a slight difference in average, and this skews drastically the extremes. This is not just age. The younger ones are much more "spoiled" by foreigner contact, and therefore much less "swiss".

I live here for some 7 years. Lived before abroad in Ireland. Been a bit around the place to notice the difference.

You're not yet 35 years old then.

Uhm I dare say neither has to do with nationality, but just with youth vs age.
And of course neither applies universally, and certainly not universally to any culture.

I'm always amazed how quick people are to generalize. They've met ONE person of ONE culture in ONE situation of ONE particular age and think they're now automatically all the same? Come on, surely no one can be that short-sighted. So I met this one 35-year-old Australian who in all seriousness asked me whether "we had TVs in Switzerland" (that was in the year 2015), so now I assume ALL Australians under the age of 36 are just morons?

Yes there are certain general behaviors in the Swiss or any culture, and it's fine to be somewhat biased, we all are, particularly towards what we don't know. But I would expect the average adult with average intelligence to be well capable of distinguishing the few from the many and be willing to reassess their own bias where required. Just like not all Americans are loud-mouthed, aggressive and arrogant, not all Swiss are narrow-minded, boring and inflexible.

Aren't they?

Tom

Really?

I thought that was more an Arab (or French) thing.

Tom

I disagreen with most of it...
This is my Version of Swiss people (start with a green face laugher emoji)

What do you mean when you call a person 'anal' ? I never heard this word before in this context, so I would like to know.

It is commonly used as a short form for anal retentive: Wikipedia is your friend.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anal_retentiveness


I've also heard: Anal (retentive) people 'can't let shit go'.

What language is this? Swiss German?

I liked the "animal friendly" thing you quoted.
So, is it safe to leave your pets around the Swiss?

Sorry, couldn't resist. It only shows how silly is to try lumping so many people all together.

Swiss are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous humans that inhabit the forests and mountains of central Europe. The genus Swiss is divided into two species: the eastern Swiss and the western Swiss (both critically endangered), and either four or five subspecies. They are the prosperous living primates. The DNA of Swiss is highly similar to that of other humans, from 95 to 99% depending on what is included, and they are the next closest living relatives to other humans after the chimpanzees and bonobos.

Swiss' natural habitats cover the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura. Although their range covers a small percentage of low lands, Swiss cover a wide range of elevations. The mountain Swiss inhabits the Alps, ranging in altitude from 2,200 to 4,300 meters (7,200 to 14,100 ft). Lowland Swiss live in dense forests and lowland swamps and marshes as low as sea level, with western lowland Swiss living in french speaking areas and eastern lowland Swiss living in the German speaking part near its border with some third world countries.

The word "Swiss" comes from the history of Hanno the Navigator, (c. 500 BC) a Carthaginian explorer on an expedition on the west Alps to the area that later became Appenzell. Members of the expedition encountered "savage people, the greater part of whom were women, whose bodies were short, and whom our interpreters called Swazi".The word was then later used as the species name, though it is unknown whether what these ancient Carthaginians encountered were truly Swiss, or some confused foreigner.

Type A personality, OCD

Um. Seems like this is common knowledge but I'm new and ignorant here so...what exactly is a clothing washing machine warrior? I'm staying in a student dorm with shared washing machines and I've yet to encounter any wars of the machines...
Aren't shared washing machines generally located in an obscure corner of the building, and even if the washers are full, don't people just put washed clothes that others haven't picked up into separate bins before proceeding to use it for their own laundry?