# Chard, Chocolate, Cheese. What's up with the Swiss and Ch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 31, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297 "2012-01-31T12:15:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/1 "2012-01-31T12:15:20Z")
Coincidence?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/2 "2012-01-31T12:32:21Z")
I think you mean choincidence. You know what the international abbreviation for the country is, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/3 "2012-01-31T12:49:13Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I think you mean choincidence. > > You know what the international abbreviation for the country is, don’t you? SW? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/4 "2012-01-31T12:51:07Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > SW? You being funny? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/5 "2012-01-31T12:51:25Z")
Crap! Something’s up. And another thing. I was just in St Martin. I interacted with many French folks there. They seem like a very intelligent people. Yet many really struggled with English, or spoke heavily accented English. Hmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/6 "2012-01-31T12:54:09Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > SW? Nope, it is CH. For Confederationa Helvetica, the national typeface. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/7 "2012-01-31T14:06:03Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I think you mean choincidence. > > You know what the international abbreviation for the country is, don’t you? Huh–didn’t know that. CH, for ‘Confederatio Helvetica’ Now I’m wondering why the country is named after a font. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mske](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mske](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mske)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/8 "2012-01-31T15:03:39Z")
Damn. Now I’m hungry for some [Swiss Chalet](http://www.swisschalet.ca/). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/9 "2012-01-31T15:20:38Z")
> [@mske](#): > > Damn. Now I’m hungry for some [Swiss Chalet](http://www.swisschalet.ca/). Where they sell. . . **ch** icken!! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/10 "2012-01-31T20:06:21Z")
These spellings first appeared a long time ago, when Switzerland was under threat by foreign invasion from another country; I think it was the Third Reich or Prussia or the Palatinate of the Rhine or Saxony or something. At that time it became important to keep quiet, as there were many foreign agents, or else secrets could be spilled. The Romands would whisper: “Tais-toi! J’ai dit _chhhh_.” The Schweizdeutsch: “Schhhh.” The Italians: “Sciuuuu.” The Romansh: something equally different. So people would urge secrecy. But then the foreigners started to creep in, bringing in insidious foreign inventions like the Blood Eagle and Neue Deutsche Härte. The government realized that the people were squabbling amongst themselves on the proper spelling and creating disunity. So in order to please all the peoples of Switzerland, they went with the French spelling for some reason, but changed the pronunciation to a “tch”/“ce”/etc. So to this day, every “ch” is subconsciously willing people to silence. And that is why, to this day, nobody knows about the large amount of firearms in Switzerland nor the secretive banking laws. ---
**Author:** ![Parthol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Parthol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parthol)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/11 "2012-01-31T20:33:44Z")
You know what else the Swiss are known for? wat **CH** es! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/12 "2012-01-31T20:51:41Z")
Is the national dish chilly? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/13 "2012-01-31T23:56:50Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Is the national dish chilly? Yes, chilly fondue. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/14 "2012-02-01T21:27:34Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Is the national dish chilly? No, it’s chaeschuechli (kind of like quiche). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/15 "2012-02-01T22:13:23Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > No, it’s chaeschuechli (kind of like quiche). But with a CH. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/16 "2012-02-01T22:18:08Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > Huh–didn’t know that. CH, for ‘Confederatio Helvetica’ > > Now I’m wondering why the country is named after a font. 😃 But a very pretty, if pretty plain, typeface. There was a time when, as a draftsman, I could do Helvetica to scale so I could size signs. But it doesn’t scan as readily as typefaces with serifs, which move your eyes along the line. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/17 "2012-02-01T22:22:45Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Nope, it is CH. For Confederationa Helvetica, the national typeface. Always thought it was short for the Cantonates of Helvetica. You live and learn, and it’s wicked cool that a country still has its Latin name. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/18 "2012-02-01T23:27:49Z")
Little-known fact: all Swiss are required to own chows as pets. Or chinchillas. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/19 "2012-02-02T00:45:51Z")
Of course the word for Cheese, in any of the Swiss languages, does not start with “Ch” (Käse, fromage, formaggio, not sure about the word in Romansch). And while the French “Chocolat” is almost Chocolate, Schokolade in German is not spelled or pronounced exactly the same. Likewise the Italian “Cioccolato” isn’t quite there. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297/20 "2012-02-02T01:01:38Z")
> [@mske](#): > > Damn. Now I’m hungry for some [Swiss Chalet](http://www.swisschalet.ca/). Once upon a New Year’s Eve when I was a bit soused I started chanting “fish filet at Swiss Chalet”. I mean, why _don’t_ they serve that too? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chard-chocolate-cheese-whats-up-with-the-swiss-and-ch/611297.md?page=2)