What do you call a Swiss man?

Question

So we call a French male "Frenchman", an English male "Englishman", and a Dutch male "Dutchman". what do we call Swiss males?

"Swissman" comes to mind, but it sounds like a cheesy version of Superman, like "Cheddarman" or "Mozzarellaman".

A Swiss person is called just the Swiss. And that's it. No "-man**" thing. — Safira, Nov 08 '13 at 05:08
Swiss swis/ noun 1. a native or inhabitant of Switzerland, or a person of Swiss descent. (https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define+swiss) — Kris, Nov 08 '13 at 06:28
Remember, "Swissman" cannot mean "Swiss male" -- Man can and does mean 'person' in such contexts. — Kris, Nov 08 '13 at 06:40
@Kris. So are you saying that my daughter is an 'Englishman'? I'd better wear a suit of armour before I tell her that! — WS2, Nov 08 '13 at 07:15
@WS2 Not necessarily. I am saying that an "Englishman" is not necessarily or always a male. You cannot interpret backwards :) — Kris, Nov 08 '13 at 07:17
@Kris So do you mean she could call herself an 'Englishman' if she wanted to? I think I may need two suits of armour! — WS2, Nov 08 '13 at 07:34
No way. If I say I don't trust an Englishman, I could include someone and his daughter and his aunt in that set. Get the drift? — Kris, Nov 08 '13 at 07:40
@Kris There is something about 'when in a hole, stop.........' — WS2, Nov 08 '13 at 07:49
@WS2 suits of armour are not effective protection against the modern Hibernians of either sex. — Conrado, Apr 18 '20 at 16:02

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:38

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There are in fact very few cases where the customary demonym is root + -man— those you have named plus Irishman, Norseman, Welshman, Scotsman, and (obsolete, now considered offensive) Chinaman, and maybe a few others in Britain like Yorkshireman or Cornishman.

In the absence of a more established form, the demonym is usually the same as the adjectival form. Just as we would speak of an Indonesian, an Omani, or a New Zealander, we would speak of a Swiss.

It sounds abrupt, even to this native speaker, not only because it is monosyllabic (e.g. calling someone a Japanese also seems off), but because in today's politically correct age, referring to someone solely by their nationality or ethnicity is potentially problematic. It would be preferable to use the demonymic adjective in conjunction with a noun; Swiss man would suffice.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:38

Community

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answered Nov 08 '13 at 06:07

choster

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Yorkshire and Cornwall are the only counties of England that allow for this treatment. You cannot, for example say a 'Norfolkman', but you can refer to someone as a Lancastrian, a Devonian, a Cumbrian and a Northumbrian. You can also refer to a Dalesman. But the terms Yorkshireman and Cornishman mean more than simply a resident of those counties. You could, for example, live in New Zealand, and still call yourself a Yorkshireman. These terms connote more than a person's locality, but a certain sense of identity. – WS2 Nov 08 '13 at 07:26
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I don't agree that it's automatically "potentially problematic" to refer to someone with a single word referencing their nationality. "An American" is completely fine and I can't imagine it ever being seen as problematic. I think the same goes for any nationality noun ending in "-an". "Swiss" sounding abrupt is a particular feature of that particular word; I don't think it's explainable by reference to the meaning of the word. – herisson Nov 30 '16 at 16:08
I like "a Swiss." It sounds very nice to me for some reason – SAH May 07 '17 at 15:39

Mari-Lou A · Answer 2 · 2013-11-08T06:13:42.520

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A man from Switzerland is called a Swiss man.

You can tag the nouns: male; man/men; gentleman; guy/s; woman/women; girl; boy; baby etc. to any nationality. And rightly so, otherwise phrases like:

"He married a Swiss"

and

"The other day while travelling into France by train, we talked to a very friendly Swiss"

are needlessly vague or ambiguous.

Moreover, Swiss man should not be spelt as one word. Some other examples are an Italian man, a Brazilian man a Chinese man. I tend to spell English man as two words but it can be spelt as one word, likewise Frenchman and Frenchwoman are commonly used names.

The words Englishman, Englishwoman, Frenchman, Frenchwoman, and Scotsman are nouns in their own right.

Even the Swiss news use the term Swiss man themselves.

Prince George's website swiped by Swiss man

edited Nov 08 '13 at 06:13

answered Nov 08 '13 at 05:53

Mari-Lou A

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You would really be referring to some 'man' with a qualifier 'Swiss' here -- Swiss man is not an expression for a 'male national of Switzerland' as an 'Englishman' or a 'Scotsman'. That way, I could as well refer to 'this Detroit man' and 'that Los Angeles man'. See for example, Gerry Dorrian's answer. – Kris Nov 08 '13 at 06:37
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Likewise with all the other terms: a Chinese person, an Egyptian woman, etc – Mitch Dec 01 '16 at 17:07
@Kris Swiss is the adjective and noun. Swiss man or a Swiss. Swedish man but a Swede. – Lambie Apr 18 '20 at 14:23

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 18 '20 at 14:14

I'm Swiss and this has never occurred to me until I read "a Swiss" in an article earlier today. It really does not sound right. If Shakespeare really referred to them as "Switzers", that seems good enough for the rest of us. My suggestion was going to be "an Helvetic" or "an Helvetian", derived from the latin name of the country (Helvetica, which is why the initials of the country are "CH" and why the currency is "CHF"). It may admittedly not be intuitive or obvious to readers, so perhaps this suggestion isn't the way to go.

Wouldn't you aspirate the h? In which case 'An Helvetian' sounds ridiculously stuffy. — Edwin Ashworth, Sep 08 '20 at 13:53

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:38

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Vladimir Nabokov and Shakespeare went with Switzer; one need look no further.

GERTRUDE Alack, what noise is this?

CLAUDIUS Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door.

Hamlet 4.5

(Interestingly, the Russian word for "doorman" is швейцар ["shveĭt͡sar"], perhaps from this usage. But I'm fairly sure "Switzer" indeed means "Swiss guy" in English.)

...with some weird light effects anon, when the torch-bearing Switzers are sent to find the body.

Bend Sinister 112.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:38

Community

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answered Nov 30 '16 at 15:25

SAH

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...except that few others in the English world use these. – Mitch Dec 01 '16 at 17:07
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A Switzer sounds like a drink… perhaps a Spritzer made with Seltzer water. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Dec 15 '16 at 08:10
@JanusBahsJacquet I think you are talking about a swizzle stick. P.S.: I like your name. – SAH Dec 22 '16 at 05:39
OMG, I didn't think I'd live to see Nabakov and the Bard on the same trolley line. Good one, though. – Lambie Oct 28 '22 at 21:02
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Shakespeare used 'sneap' for '[a] rebuke' and 'foison' for 'abundance'. He also used 'egregious' in a totally different sense from the default usage of today. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 29 '23 at 14:31
This article feels the need to gloss "Switzer" as "Swiss", so I'd agree it's not widely known, and perhaps less common than Swiss as a noun. – Stuart F Jun 29 '23 at 16:02

Insider_English · Answer 5 · 2023-06-29T03:03:07.270

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Whichever the nationality, it is an adjective in a noun phrase, whether you tag on a denominator or gender or other such noun.

So, "I'm a Swiss (man / woman / citizen / denizen / etc.)" is fine. Or then simply say, "I'm Swiss" leaving out the [indefinite] article.

(Please do post a comment if you don't agree with me).

edited Jun 29 '23 at 03:03

answered Oct 05 '18 at 08:45

Insider_English

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Please use lower case for adjective and noun phrase. [denominator is for math] :) – Lambie Oct 28 '22 at 21:03

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 08 '13 at 06:24

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I agree with the above; however, another alternative might be "man from Switzerland".

answered Nov 08 '13 at 06:24

Gerry Dorrian

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What do you call a Swiss man?

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