Incidentally, the Swiss Confederation in Latin is C onfoederatio H elvetica, hence CH as a country abbreviation.
Otec is by no means on his own. Lots of people struggle to get it right, which gets up peoples noses who don't.
If you're trying to solve a problem regarding how things are done in Switzerland, your headline might say Registering a non-road legal vehicle in Switzerland , or Registering a non-road legal vehicle in the Swiss Confederation , but not Registering non-road legal vehicle in Swiss .
Switzerland refers to the country, as in:
I am moving to Switzerland, I live in Switzerland, I hate Switzerland. I'm only in Switzerland for the money.
Swiss refers to things or persons that are Swiss.
I am Swiss. Swiss cheese, Swiss chocolate, Swiss army knives, Swiss neutrality. I have – or don't have – a Swiss passport.
It's not that difficult. Any native or fluent English speaker would know the difference. Non-English speakers at beginner level are excused.
If you found yourself with the same issues in Denmark, say, it wouldn't be quite so easy:
Denmark refers to the country
Danish is the main language spoken in Denmark
Danish passport holders are citizens of Denmark. They are called Danes
Exports from Denmark are called Danish bacon or Danish pastries
Danish bacon is generally frowned upon except by the Brits in southern Spain who would throw a wobbly fit if Danish bacon wasn't served as part of their full English breakfast (known as the full English, for short).
Danish pastries, on the other hand, are in a league of their own. In Denmark, Danish pastries are called Vienna bread. Danish pastries may contain cinnamon or crème anglaise . Crème anglaise should not be translated as English cream. That's just weird. The English think crème anglaise is the same as custard, but they're just ignorant. The term crème anglaise was invented by the French as a joke. The English have their own version of a Danish pastry filled with crème anglaise . They call them custard buns. Custard buns are either round or vaguely torpedo-shaped, filled with slow-moving yellow gunk. This particular hue of yellow is not found in nature. The torpedo-shaped variety are laid-out on a slab at Greggs. They are pale and sickly looking as if they'd recently been embalmed and then dug up. Usually, a bit of the yellow gunk sticks out at one end where it hardens and some of the yellow goes a bit darker. Custard buns make excellent draught excluders.
You'd think that the Brits, who at one time ruled the waves, vast tracts of land on virtually every continent and owned millions of people could do better, wouldn't you? The Danes, on the other hand, weren't so big on colonialism apart from a quick trip to Britain, where the pastries were rubbish so they went back home, and Greenland, of course. But Greenland was an easy touch. Nobody was interested in it or even knew where it was, except for Donald Trump who'd heard of it, but even he got cold feet.
Just goes to show that not being preoccupied with empire building can lead to great results in the pastry world.
Boris Johnson, who bears a striking resemblance to a cream bun, has commissioned a new pastry recipe. It's slow going because the influencer, his girlfriend, and the chief stirrer, Dominic Cummings, don't see eye to eye.
Foreigners who want to settle in the Netherlands are also faced with similar problems.
The Netherlands (or Holland) refers the country. The The is very important here. Don't just call it Netherlands. Say “let's go to the Netherlands,” not “let's go Netherlands”, unless you're from south London and under 30. Most people would just say “Let's go to Holland”. “I'm going to the Netherlands” is a phrase often used by genocidal dictators who are not going there for the weed. Don't ever say “let's go Dutch”, unless you know what you're doing, and be especially careful if it's your turn to get the next round.
Citizens of the Netherlands are called Dutch or the Dutch.
Dutch courage is the Netherlands' most famous export.
If you inadvertently say “let's go Dutch,” when it's your turn to get the next round, you'll need a fair bit of that famous Dutch export.