Why is 'Hauptbahnhof' abbreviated 'HB' in Switzerland and not 'Hbf' as in Austria and Germany?

Answer 1

Haha, I think its because swiss people don't really speak (or write) the offical high german (though they learn it in school). And it differs a bit from German, so their abbrevation for Hauptbahnhof is our abbrevation for two (more or less good, but actually compared to English beer, awesome) Beerbrands from Munich, Hacker Braeu and Hasen Braeu... mhm.... beer... octoberfest...

Answer 2

American English is not the same as Queens English in the UK.

Same goes for German language in different countries. It developped under different influences, with different neighbours.

I do like the explenation above: Haupt Bahnhof and Hauptbahnhof.

Answer 3

I wouldn't say it is so in "Switzerland"; to my knowledge Zurich HB is the only "HB" in Switzerland. But the Swiss-Germans very often use such abbreviations, often making words out of them, e.g. "KiGa" for Kindergarten, "MuKi" for Mutter-Kind for mother-child activities (gymnastics etc), GA for Generalabonnement, a pass for all the Swiss trains. I personally quite often call Zurich HB just "HB" and I have heard more local people do so (in Swiss-German) as well "Ha-Bay". It seems unlikely to me that Frankfurters call their station the "hubuff". I think THEY'RE the ones you should be questioning!

Answer 4

It is not so much a question of language as local practice, surely?

Why is a "railway station" in UK called a "train station" in the US, and a car becomes an automobile? There are many other such examples of different terms between two English speaking countries; so why not, between other German speaking countries?

Answer 5

Because they think of it as Haupt Bahnhof. Schweizedeutsch differs quite a lot from the German and Austrian ones.