But hello? Has “Grüezi” disappeared now too?

In city cafes, bars and shops, people are increasingly greeting people with “hello”. Will “Grüezi” soon become an endangered word? Why is this happening? We want to know more.

Julia Stephen/ch media

As a child of German immigrants in the early 1990s, it never occurred to me to greet people I respected with “hello.” I quickly noticed that the lilting “Hello” used in all contexts in Germany sounded too friendly to Swiss ears.

Even today, German immigration websites strongly warn against the casual use of “Hello”. But lately, it seems to me, I'm being greeted more and more with “hello” in bars, cafes, restaurants, shops and even SBB counters in the city. Sometimes I say “hello” again and sometimes it's more or less welcomed by the person I'm talking to.

Has “Hello” become a serious competitor to “Grüezi” in Switzerland? Dialect researcher Adrian Leemann, who teaches at the University of Bern, is also the project manager of the large-scale Dialect Atlas, which compares Swiss dialects from the 1950s to the present day. The team studied the Swiss community of 127 people and surveyed 1,016 people on their language habits.

There may be many reasons for the “hello” craze: In our Swiss latitudes, due to the influence of English, “buddyitis” is prevalent: professors like Adrian Liman, who greets people with “hello” I say hello. You,” and colleagues, of course, are all on a first-name basis. Especially in industries where English is the primary language of communication, the threshold for inhibition of using “du” has dropped. In addition, “hello” is sonically the same as “hello” It's not that far apart.

Short names are a trend — and not just for baby names

Secondly, Swiss greetings and farewells are becoming shorter and shorter. Young people in Switzerland prefer to say hello with “Morge” rather than “Gute Morge”. The short and practical “Ade” is also on the rise. “Hello” is said faster than “Good morning” and there is no time limit, which is common among young people who no longer live and work in the field according to the rhythm of the day like farmers.

Dialect researcher Adrian Leeman.Image: Adrian Moser

There's something else that makes “hello” so appealing: In a society increasingly alienated from language, “hello” is the perfect gender-neutral form of address with which you can navigate language with confidence All uncertainties in usage, since it's open-ended. It remains to be seen whether people are referring to “du” or “she”, although we haven't seen it spoken anywhere in Switzerland. “Hello” is particularly appropriate in sales conversations, where intimacy can be established but polite distance is still required.

The results of the Dialect Atlas will now reassure anyone worried about the gradual Germanization of Switzerland. On the latest map showing the distribution of greetings in Switzerland, “hello” barely appears. The research team recorded “Hello” only sporadically in the Zurich area, parts of central Switzerland, and on the border between the cantons of Glarus and Graubünden.

Even more obvious: “Grüezi”, the God-fearing expression and abbreviation for “God greets you” popular in the Zurich area, is apparently on the rise among young people – all the way to Basel! Researchers suspect this is due to the Zurich region's economic dominance. Also, “Grüezi” is as short as “Hello”, making it attractive to young people.

University Press.Image: vdf

Leemann and his team believe that “Hello” could be used more frequently, at least in phone conversations, since people typically respond with “Hello” in English. But here, too, her suspicions were not confirmed: People between the ages of 20 and 35 preferred to use their first and last names when contacted by phone.

Immigrants use High German terminology

Despite this clear finding, there is some truth to Adrian Leemann's observation that he doesn't want to rule out a “Hello” craze in cities. “For our survey, we selected people who grew up and primarily live in the area they represent. Their commute could not be more than two hours, and one of the two parents had to be from the area,” Liman explain. Young people under the age of twenty are generally excluded from surveys to avoid distortions caused by youthful language. People with immigrant backgrounds, who make up 40 percent of the Swiss population, were also not taken into account. According to preliminary findings, they tend to use standard German terms more frequently. (aargauerzeitung.ch)

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