A person from Sweden is a Swede, a person from Finland is a Finn. What’s a person from Switzerland?
Swiss.
As in “a Swiss” or “he/she’s Swiss”.
I’ve never encountered “Swiss” as a noun, only an adjective. Do people really say “a Swiss?”
My husband used to live with a Swiss guy, and he used it as a noun all the time. It does sound odd, but apparently it’s perfectly correct.
There is a word in English for a Swiss person, a Switzer,; although you won’t see it used much now, it is in the OED.
My understanding is that “a Swiss” is correct, although I haven’t heard it.
At one place I went to school there was a girl from Switzerland. She was, inevitably, called “Swiss Miss”.
Sure they do. You must have heard it. Everyone has.
Q: How do you make a swiss roll?
A: Push him down a hill.
Lucky.
It’s a beautiful country with relatively little ethnic unrest and few social ills, and being in central Europe you can reach a dozen interesting and different places with a couple of hours travel. Excellent railroads and, IIRC, all power is nonpolluting hydroelectric.
“Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”
Harry Lime in The Third Man
Not even that: the cuckoo clock is from the Black Forest, in Germany.
But the Swiss do make great (non cuckoo-) clocks and and watches.
Wasn’t Vienna in Switzerland at one time? Seems like Vienna’s responsible for more than little sausages.
And to the OP: A person from Switzerland is called “a foreigner.”
I don’t think Vienna was ever a part of the Swiss Federation, although it was the Congress of Vienna in 1815 that re-established Swiss independence.
Why single out Switzerland? What’s a person from England called? China?
Yeah…but “Swissman” just doesn’t sound right.
Little-known fact: All of these people are called “Swiss”.
Oh, wait. For a moment I thought we were in the “Lie to Me” thread.
No.
Swiss is the correct term for a swiss person: in German Schweitzer, in french Suisse, in Italian Svizzero.
An Englishman and a Chinaman, respectively.
OK, what do you call someone from Togo?
And if you want to see what a typical Swiss looks like, take a gander here:
http://www.myswitzerland.com/html/movies/wm/
(the ladies especially will be interested - yes, Swiss men will be glad to welcome you to their country - don’t worry, it’s work safe. I should also mention that I’m Swiss, and, therefore, of course look like the guys in those pictures)