Arnold Zwicky's Blog

*Switzerland/Swiss

Postings about Switzerland or with significant references to things Swiss. References in passing to Swiss cheese, Swiss chard, the Swiss cheese plant, Swiss army knives, etc. are not inventoried here. This Page overlaps considerably with the Page about Zwicky postings:

  [https://arnoldzwicky.org/lists/zwicky-postings/]

3/3/10: Zwicky and the Cat Museum: Zwicky and the Cat Museum
Regarding a poster advertising the Swiss Zwicky thread firm. The cat is wielding a spool of silk thread (soie á coudre, literally ‘silk for sewing’).

5/10/12: The Swiss national anthem: The Swiss national anthem
On Michele Bachmann’s adoption of Swiss citizenship through her Swiss American husband and Swiss Psalm, the Swiss national anthem

10/15/12: Twittering: Twittering
On Die Zwitscher-Maschine, a mixed media piece by Swiss-German artist Paul Klee

2/7/13: Swiss American: Swiss American
Louis Agassiz, a distinguished scientist, was Swiss American in the narrow sense; he emigrated from Neuchâtel (in Francophone Switzerland) to Boston and took American citizenship

3/26/13: noisette: noisette
On Noisette, a photograph by Swiss artistic bad boy Urs Fischer

10/21/13: Swiss shirtlessness: Swiss shirtlessness
From The Local: Switzerland’s News in English, on “In Pictures: Shock! Farmers in underpants are models!”. Some of the men may be genuine members of the category in question, but others are obviously fantasy fodder.

5/27/14: Museum notes: Museum notes
Regarding two specialized museums that have come by me recently: one that’s a fresh mention of an old friend, the Frog Museum in Estavayer-le-Lac, Switzerland; and a new acquaintance, the Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavik.

7/2/14: From the Zwicky diaspora: From the Zwicky diaspora
The story of the Zwicky diaspora goes back to the little town of Mollis, in Canton Glarus, Switzerland. Over the centuries (five or so of them) Zwickys have swept around the world (from Australia to Argentina and of course in North America and Europe), including Green Bay, WI.

1/21/15: Theme music: Theme music
William Tell isa national hero of Switzerland, and many Swiss are baffled by Americans’ association of the William Tell overture with Westerns

2/18/15: Saint Phalle phallic philately: Saint Phalle phallic philately
A variety of images by Swiss artist Niki de Saint Phalle, including some for a pro-condom “Stop AIDS” campaign and a colorful sculpture of the Buddha

3/2/15: Since 1895: Since 1895
Inspired by a Mother Goose and Grimm regarding Richard Outcault’s famous Yellow Kid character, details about Rodolphe Töpffer, a Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist who was arguably the first cartoonist

3/9/15: Morning name: salsify (with Swiss chard as a bonus): Morning name: salsify (with Swiss chard as a bonus)
Some nostalgic elements of a Swiss grandmother’s cooking: salsify and Swiss chard

4/7/15: Edelweiss: Edelweiss
Among other things, Edelweiss refers to an alpine plant emblematic of Switzerland

7/11/15: Outrageous art: Outrageous art
Some examples of the provocative art of Hans Rudolf Giger, a Swiss surrealist painter

2/24/16: Annals of art and design: LC2 in Swiss concrete: Annals of art and design
works by Swiss designer Stefan Zwicky

5/28/16: On the public art patrol: giant chairs: On the public art patrol: giant chairs
Giant chairs are something of a theme in public art; some of the most famous pieces may be found in Geneva, Switzerland; Washington DC; Hampstead Heath in London; Dartmoor, Devon; and Denver CO

10/17/16: Zwickys of New York: Chuck the mixmaster: Zwickys of New York: Chuck the mixmaster
On Chuck Zwicky and early Swiss immigration to the U.S., with a section on Sugarcreek OH and its annual Swiss Festival

10/17/16: More Zwicky postings: More Zwicky postings
section on Zwicky brand muesli and the Swiss firm that makes it

10/21/16: Pingu watches over the gay boys: Pingu watches over the gay boys
Some homoerotic Pingu collages lead to other pingu- words and to the pungi, a musical instrument (cobras are involved); Pingu is a British-Swiss animated penguin character

11/20/16: A near-Zwicky: Zwickey broadheads: A near-Zwicky: Zwickey broadheads
Continuing the series on Zwickys, a similarly spelled name — Zwickey — for a company that will help you bring down a water buffalo with bow and arrow

11/20/16: Zwicky annals: David W. Zwicky: Zwicky annals: David W. Zwicky
Regarding the proprietors of W.D. Zwicky & Son, Inc. Wood Recycling, Robesonia and Evansville, PA

11/25/16: Swish Zwicky: Swish Zwicky
About two Nelly Zwickys: A mystery one who has some interest in WWII tanks and a not-so-mystery one who is a writer in Switzerland

12/9/16: Two Daniel Zwickys: Two Daniel Zwickys
Regarding one Daniel Zwicky of Fort Lauderdale FL, where he has a well-reviewed studio/salon  and another Daniel Zwicky, from Switzerland, who works in London as an investment banker for Providence Equity

12/18/16: Mariano Hernán Mujica: Mariano Hernán Mujica
Another Zwicky family posting, about a distant cousin who serves as an Argentinean diplomat and Mollis, Canton Glarus, Switzerland, the town where the Zwickys come from

1/11/17: Characters: Characters
Characters, most of them cute, from Japanese anime, manga, animated cartoons, computer games, books, and consumer goods of all sorts, including Mario, Totoro, Hello Kitty, Aggretsuko, Afro Ken, Tarepanda, and (the Swiss penguin) Pingu

2/3/17: Theo Zwicky: Theo Zwicky
From The Guardian, “Theo Zwicky obituary”, an affectionate reminiscence by Peter Vacher

3/10/17: Friday cartoon 1: the husky pup meme: Friday cartoon 1: the husky pup meme
What’s great about living in Switzerland? The cute husky pup knows!

4/10/17: The little kid (part 2): The little kid (part 2)
Another set of photos of AMZ (age 4-7) and his family, with some notes on memory, clothing, and names for things

4/13/17: Three more Reapings: Three more Reapings
Three cartoons featuring the Grim Reaper, including some playfulness with with idioms; #2 is the Swiss Reaper, a play on the Swiss army knife

4/26/17: Saint Phalle: Saint Phalle
Reflections on the artist Niki de Saint Phalle, her history, her paintings, and her sculpture; Swiss artist Jean Tinguely

5/14/17: Six mothers: Six mothers
A Zwicky family photo (from 1945 or ’46) showing Bertha and Melchior Zwicky, their five children, four of the five spouses, and ten of their twelve grand-children

5/19/17: Marco, Marco, Marco: Marco, Marco, Marco
Inspired by an underwear ad for various styles of Marco Marco briefs, some discussion of the Three Musketeers and Subcomandante Marcos; Swiss associations of “One for all, all for one”

6/13/17: Trailers: Trailers
On varieties of flowers like fuchsia, bacopa, and lantana that drape in striking ways from hanging baskets, as well as ivies and grasses that make similarly excellent container plants; AMZ Sr. visit to Switzerland and his Swiss Alpen-Flora book

6/16/17: Father and grandfather: Father and grandfather
Photos featuring several generations of Zwickys, more about Alpen-Flora, and some reflections on social class

7/16/17: A blue period: A blue period
It’s about plants — the chaste tree, balloon flowers, bellflowers — moving from Palo Alto through the Swiss Alps and on to the Eastern European Wilds, the Carpathians

7/20/17: Ovaltine mornings: Ovaltine mornings
Wake up gay in the morning with Ovaltine, Midol, and/or other common products to make you happy and carefree in ways you might not have expected! (Ovaltine developed in Switzerland)

8/2/17: Three names: Three names
The names for yesterday: Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden — the Urkantonen, or original cantons, of Switzerland

8/28/17: The cop and the gunner’s mate: The cop and the gunner’s mate
Another underwear ad inspires a discussion of various Flic(k)s, Flac(k)s, Fricks, and Fracks of popular culture; Swiss skaters Frick and Frack

9/6/17: Antique technology (and its songs): Antique technology (and its songs)
Inspired by a Zits installment in which the teenage son actually mails something in an envelope with a stamp, a discussion of songs about the postal service; the William Tell overture

9/12/17: Cat on a silken thread: Cat on a silken thread
The latest news from the Zwicky thread company, a firm posted about several times on this blog, partly because it’s a Zwicky company and partly because of the famous 1950 ad poster by Donald Brun

9/15/17: A marmot sang in Graubünden meadows: A marmot sang in Graubünden meadows
A posting about, among other things, the advertising posters of Donald Brun, and his charming poster for the Alpine resort Davos, in the Swiss canton of Graubünden / Grisons

10/9/17: Focus on the dal: Focus on the dal
A second cataract surgery leads to a discussion of dal, a popular type of dried, split legume seeds; Swiss firm Alcon Laboratories

10/27/17: The Zwicky engine of Harringay: The Zwicky engine of Harringay
In 1907, Swiss Engineer Jean Zwicky designed and hand-built a fire engine in Tottenham, a district also within the borough of Haringey, now famous as the home of the Tottenham Hotspurs football team

11/27/17: The two Salome Zwickys of Zürich: The two Salome Zwickys of Zürich
Actually, there is only one Salome Zwicky in Zürich, but she has managed to combine her musical and medical lives

6/6/18: Swiss watchmakers: Swiss watchmakers
Swiss master watchmaker Philippe Dufour; Swiss watch firm International Watch Company in Schaffhausen; the local area; the company’s office of Corporate Social Responsibility and its head Joëlle Zwicky

6/18/18: Return to the E. Zwicky grain mill: Return to E. Zwicky
Swiss grain milling firm and its muesli; region of the company’s headquarters

……………

Previous listings compiled by Kim Darnell; postings after 6/18/18 inventoried by AMZ below

6/19/18: A Swiss thread: A Swiss thread
Zwicky thread and yarn company; posters by Swiss artists Brun, Bamberger; about Bamberger; poster for the 700th anniversary of the founding of the city of Rapperswil (in Canton St. Gallen)

6/20/18: The cheese of my forebears: The cheese of my forebears
Schabziger / Sap Sago, the cheese of Canton Glarus (where the Zwickys come from)

6/24/18: A Swiss thread in Paris: A Swiss thread in Paris
Swiss Zwicky thread company with an office in Paris; thread part of the business merged in 2001 with a German company

6/27/18: Three Züricher Peter Zwickys: Three Peter Zwickys
Zwicky silk-thread company

6/27/18: Swiss spin-off: Wallisellen: Spin-off: Wallisellen
town of Wallisellen in Canton Glarus: etymology of the name; the Wallisellen counting-out rhyme

6/27/18: Swiss spin-off: Züricher Geschnetzeltes: Züricher Geschnetzeltes
veal dish aka émincé de veau zurichoise

7/5/18: czl.ch: czl.ch
Swiss artist Christine Zwicky-Lehmann

7/10/18: Swiss cheese isn’t Swiss: Swiss cheese isn’t Swiss
Swiss cheese

7/13/18: Swiss steak: Swiss steak
… is not Swiss

7/15/18: Braised short ribs with Swiss chard, and the Swiss Hotel: Braised short ribs
Swiss steak, Swiss chard, the Swiss Hotel in Sonoma CA; Canton Ticino; Lugano

7/15/18: On the black cat patrol: On the black cat patrol
Swiss poster artist Donald Brun; his posters for the (Swiss) Zwicky silk thread company

7/16/18: 19th-century Swiss steak: 19th-century Swiss steak
source of the Swiss in Swiss steak; Switzerland County, Indiana, and Swiss settlers there; Vevey in Canton Vaud

7/17/18: Chard semantics, chard art, and chard food: Chard semantics, art, food
Swiss chard as a characteristic food of Switzerland; Canton Graubünden / Grisons and the dish capuns; the Romansh language

7/18/18: Avoid needless menu words: Avoid needless menu words
Swiss ‘Swiss cheese’; à la Suisse ‘with Swiss cheese’; Swiss burgers; Swiss eggs; Gruyère cheese

7/21/18: Swiss America: Swiss America
Swiss settlements in the US; places said to be “the Switzerland of America”

7/22/18: Swiss Navy: Swiss Navy
Swiss Navy lubricants for sex; Victorinox Swiss Army knives

8/1/18: Swiss National Day! (with a query): Swiss National Day
Swiss national day, August 1st; the Swiss flag; the patron saint of Switzerland; the patron saint of Canton Glarus

8/8/18: The Gay Village, Swiss Chalet, poutine: The Gay Village, Swiss Chalet, poutine
the Canadian restaurant chain Swiss Chalet, Swiss chalets, the Swiss Chalet architectural style, Rick’s Swiss Chalet restaurant in Palo Alto

8/31/18: Swiss art supplies in the morning: Swiss art supplies
Caran d’Ache pencil and art supplies firm

11/19/18: Gesneriana: Gesneriana
16th-century Swiss polymath (esp. naturalist) Conrad Ges(s)ner

11/20/18: Wisc Swiss music: Wisc Swiss music
American Swiss music from Helvetia Records in Monroe WI; alp(en)horns

11/27/18: On the Swiss poster patrol: Swiss poster patrol
the (Mount) Pilatus Railway; Alpinist Frederick Burlingham and early documentaries of Swiss mountain peaks; mountain climbing; the Swiss military; guns in Switzerland

11/29/18: Swiss Tasmania: Swiss Tasmania
Mt. Ida and Lake St. Clair as the Switzerland of Tasmania; the faux-Swiss Tasmanian vilage of Grindelwld; people of Swiss ancestry in Tasmania; the Swiss village of Grindelwald

12/2/18: Nur in der Schweiz: Nur in der Schweiz
raclette, Bündnerfleisch; at McDonald’s in Switzerland: the McRaclette, the McBretzel

12/5/18: News for (massive) dogs: St. Bernard of Menthon: St. Bernard
St. Bernard, patron saint of the Alps, and his refuge at the Great St. Bernard Pass

12/8/18: News for bears: cities of bears: Cities of bears
Bern(e)

12/15/18: Regionally ambivalent Switzerland: Regionally ambivalent Switzerland
Switzerland as central European or western European

12/15/18: Yoo-hoo, Argau!: Yoo-hoo, Aargau!
the soft drink Rivella; Canton Aargau

12/16/18: Four Swiss rolls: Four Swiss rolls
Swiss roll, the cake roulade; the hairstyles Swiss/French roll / bun / twist; Swiss breads; Swiss cheese roll-ups; dirndls; Heidi, Heidiland and Maienfeld (in Canton Graubünden)

12/18/18: The Swiss diaspora: Steinlen in Montmartre: Steinlen in Montmartre
Swiss French artist Steinlen

12/18/18: Nationality: the case of Albert Einstein: Einstein’s nationality
German, then Swiss and later American as well as Swiss

12/19/18: On the international waffle patrol: International waffle patrol
Swiss waffles (with Gruyère fondue) in NYC, Swiss Waffle dessert shop (offering waffles wth confectonery, esp. chocolate, toppings) in Mumbai

12/28/18: Yet another Switzerland: Yet another Switzerland
the Switzerland of Armenia

1/16/19: Picturesque Mollis, with helicopters: Picturesque Mollis
photo of Mollis; Swiss helicopter engineering, especially in Canton Glarus

5/3/19: The hand that cradles the tree: Cradles the tree
notable outdoor art in Switzerland; canton Glarus and its capital town; direct democracy in Switzerland

5/15/19: News for Fenis: News for Fenis
Great St Bernard Pass, leading to Aosta (and Fénis and its castle)

5/21/19: Das Wappen: Das Wappen
Mollis, Obstalden, and Glarus Nord in Canton Glarus; Swiss viticultural settlement on the Black Sea in the early 19th century

7/15/19: Tall Tree TeleSwissies: TeleSwissies
Swisscom and its Palo Alto outpost

8/22/19: Sexy Dark Swiss: Sexy Dark Swiss
Swiss chocolate, Teuscher in particular

10/9/19: Der Migros-Sprecher Gabriel Zwicky: Gabriel Zwicky
the Migros supermarket chain

10/31/19: Marc-Olivier Zwicky: Marc-Olivier Zwicky
of the Syngenta company in Basel; Baseldytsch

1/2/20: Zwicky with a beat: Zwicky with a beat
rösti as the Swiss national dish; ETH Zurich; Züritüütsch

2/7/20: The Dread Pirate Swisserhand: Dread Pirate Swisserhand
Swiss Army knives

2/14/20: Socka Hitsch: Socka Hitsch
the region of Landquart in the Graubünden; the “character” Socka Hitsch / Christian Zwicky

2/15/20: Revisiting 43: the Socka Hitsch nominal on the rural Swiss roadside: Socka Hitsch nominal
long nominal referring to Socka Hitsch

3/11/20: Schwinger outet sich als schwul: Schwinger outet sich
Swiss swing wrestler Curdin Orlik comes out as gay, the first out active male athlete in the nation

5/6/20: With sword, shield, robe, and wreath: With sword, shield,…
Helvetia, the official personification of Switzerland

5/14/20: Urs on drums: Urs on drums
Swiss rock band Daytona; the name Urs; St. Ursus of Solothurn

6/20/20: Duolingo’s Latin cheese: Duolingo’s Latin cheese
Geneva fragrance and flavor company Firmenich

6/22/20: Raw, firm, and tasty: Raw, firm, and tasty
raw milk cheeses of Switzerland

6/28/20: Bark if you’re Swiss: Bark if you’re Swiss
Swiss Mountain Dogs

8/1/20: Switzerland at your service: Switzerland at your service
a Swiss sexual massage firm; prostitution in Switzerland

1/10/21: Rorschach v. Magritte: Rorschach v. Magritte
Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach, of the ink blots

1/19/21: a pair of jockstrap:
[https://arnoldzwicky.org/2021/01/19/pair-of-jockstrap/]
Zurich company TBô offering men’s underwear

2/20/21: Three remarkably named men’s fragrances:
[https://arnoldzwicky.org/2021/02/20/three-remarkably-named-mens-fragrances/]
Zurich perfumery Sentifique

2/23/21: Notes of cade oil, spikenard, and labdanum:
[https://arnoldzwicky.org/2021/02/23/notes-of-cade-oil-spikenard-and-labdanum/]
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure; Swiss scientist Horace Bénédict de Saussure (Ferdinand’s great-grandfather); his son Swiss plant scientist Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure

6/26/21: The lizard and the flag:
[https://arnoldzwicky.org/2021/06/26/the-lizard-and-the-flag]
dad joke about the Swiss flag, with pun on plus

6/29/21: Rainbows and penguins at the gym:
[https://arnoldzwicky.org/2021/06/29/rainbows-and-penguins-at-the-gym/]
Swiss flag gym shorts

7/31/21: If you squint, you can see Switzerland:
[https://arnoldzwicky.org/2021/07/31/if-you-squint-you-can-see-switzerland/]
Swiss National Day; Switzerland t-shirt and gym shorts