A german blog I subscribe to recently contained the phrase

"die „Füdlibürger“, wie wir in der Schweiz sagen"

the "Füdlibürger" as we say in Switzerland.

I didn't recognize the word, though I took a guess from context, and then put it through Google translate to check.

It returned
the "Cel" as we say in Switzerland.

This left me no wiser so I put "Füdlibürger" in on its own and got back "Fuedlibuerger" which has simply given me the non umlauted spelling, so I put that in and got "Cel".

The interesting bit came next as I discovered that whatever language I attempt to translate INTO, Fuedlibuerger ALWAYS comes out as "Cel" - Frech, Italian, Spanish, Swedis - all "Cel".

The only ones where something different is returned are the ones with a different script and for all I know that might be "Cel" too.

Any idea what's going on?

Odd. I get the same thing, too.

As I have computer access for approximately another thirteen hours I would be interested if anyone has any thoughts on this.

Me, too. Particularly you, z, as you might have an inkling as to what it means.

"die „Füdlibürger“, wie wir in der Schweiz sagen"

The German Wikipedia (link) has your answer, Bob: "In der Schweiz werden Spießbürger auch als „Füdlibürger“ (Füdli = Hinterteil) oder „Bünzli“ bezeichnet." A Spießbürger is a Philistine.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

I worked out what it meant. It was the insistence that it meant "Cel" that puzzles me. Maybe someone will have posted an answer by thye time I next have access.

See ya!