2023-08-26 17:46:31
Updated26. Aug 2023, 7:46 p.m
“Züri-Slängikon”: Chilbi-Chotzete, Trotüüle or Stei-Frässer – do you know what it’s all about?
Domenico Blass collects the most original and creative dialect expressions in the “Züri-Slängikon” online encyclopedia. He wants to expand the work with the help of the 20-minute community.
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Illustrator Andrea Caprez, author Domenico Blass and Reto Frei from züri.net.
20min/Michael Scherrer
The encyclopedia is to be published again in book form in autumn.
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«The Zurich cord is loud and cheeky and sometimes quite primitive. But she is just as creative, funny and charming,” says Blass.
20min/Michael Scherrer
Slängikon – that’s what it’s all about:
Zurich German for beginners: The lexicon “Züri-Slängikon” provides an overview of the vocabulary of the Züri Schnurre.
The encyclopedia is to be published again in book form in autumn. A summary of the terms was published as a brochure as early as 1990. The first book finally followed in 2007.
The expressions are illustrated by the illustrator Andrea Caprez. Reto Frei provides the lexicon with his platform and is responsible for programming.
20 Minuten is now bringing a selection of the best slang expressions once a week – online and in the newspaper.
“Chilbi-Chotzete” (Birchermüesli), “Trotüüle” (fool) or “Stei-Frässer” (Bündner): In the “Züri-Slängikon” are the most original dialect expressions from the city of Zurich. Domenico Blass, freelance author and former headwriter of the late-night show “Giacobbo/Müller”, has been collecting the pearls of Zurich’s linguistic creativity for over 30 years. Over 18,000 slang expressions for around 2,000 German terms are already stored in the online lexicon. Blass is now planning to publish the best dialect words and phrases in book form for the third time.
«The Zurich cord is loud and cheeky and sometimes quite primitive. But she is just as creative, funny and charming,” says Blass. Because the language is developing very quickly, especially in the slang area, there are still no terms in the lexicon for many things that are common today. “From oat milk to banana bread, from hygiene masks to mobile phone chains, from stand-up paddles to electric scooters and from nest models to home offices: there are definitely new slang expressions for this,” Blass is convinced. “But they’re not in the Slängikon yet.”
In addition, many new abbreviations and English words have found their way into the everyday language of young people, which he would like to include in his Slängikon. “The language that young people use in their text messages is not a demise of the language, as some fear, but an enrichment.”
«Släng is not housebroken»
An overview of the new word creations and idioms is to be published in book form this autumn. In order to expand the Slängikon and bring it up to date, Blass hopes for the help of the 20-minute readers. As early as 2006, before the last book was published, the 20-Minute Community actively helped in the search for new terms. “On the first day after the article in the 20 minutes, 700 new suggestions came in and hundreds more every day over the next few days.”
Over the decades, he has invested thousands of hours of work in the Züri Schnurre encyclopedia, says Blass. “It’s a contribution to Zurich culture that I’m happy to make.” In the most recent general overhaul, he tried to bring the Slängikon into a form that corresponds to the spirit of the times – i.e. as non-discriminatory and gender-equitable as possible. “Släng is not housebroken,” admits Blass. However, expressions such as Tussi-Tooschter (tanning bed), folds (old person) or calorie bunker (fat person) have remained. “But everything that is too hurtful is constantly being removed. Because at the end of the day, the Züri-Slängikon should be fun for everyone.»
Because the «Züri-Slängikon», which appeared in book form in 2007, is long out of print, a new work will be published this year: with new chapters, new släng expressions and illustrations by Andrea Caprez in Wortseh Verlag.
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