Talk:Swiss bar

Etymology

@Fay Freak: Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anything at all about this term's etymology on the internet. The only interesting thing I have to report back is that there's a second, unrelated sense: [1], [2] — Fytcha〈 T | L | C 〉 02:37, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Some ideas:

• [3] "There’s a theory that it’s now called the “Swiss Bar” because you can use a neutral grip, and Switzerland typically remains neutral in foreign policy matters."
• [4] "There is much speculation that the name of the Swiss bar derives from it’s positioning of the handles. Switzerland has a neutral foreign policy. The Swiss bar has neutral positioned handles. Another suggestion is that the name reflects the versatility of the Swiss Army knife. Whether or not either of these are true remains to be seen, but they are interesting theories!"
• [5] This forum thread just provides the same two theories.

I don't know how plausible they are, but that's what I found. 98.170.164.88 16:12, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Thanks anon. Perhaps both the neutral foreign policy and the look of the army knife motivated it.

I thought before, maybe the Swiss cheese, or the Swiss federal cross, and I suspected that a smart coach from Switzerland introduced it, as in the case of Copenhagen plank, but it is probably the grip since this is the difference of exercise induced by this device: if you want to bench with neutral grip you use this bar. This idea has been diluted a bit though if as in your second link there was a distinction between orthogonal grips in a “Swiss bar” and angled ones on a “football bar” (lots of resources now listed the terms as synonyms). Fay Freak (talk) 16:27, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Interesting findings, thank you. I think if there isn't a Swiss person that was somehow involved in the development and/or popularization of this piece of equipment, the neutrality explanation seems very plausible to me. — Fytcha〈 T | L | C 〉 17:59, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

@Fytcha: Given the illuminating image and the blurb "... additional erectly aligned handles" in the article it sounds to me like schweißen (“to weld”). This send me down a rumbling path, the highlight of which I won't refuse you. It has to be cognate to Schwitzkasten, cp. Tina Turner im Schwitzkasten "starke Achselbehaarung", see costa (“rib, side”) en lieu of Achsel, forget about the minisauna sense. Den Rest bar ich mir auf für Peter. 141.20.6.69 12:56, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

Entertaining theory, ApisAzuli, that it would be from some dialectal German word. Due to the recency of this word, you should realize however that the verisimilitude of such theories is scanty. Fay Freak (talk) 13:48, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

I'm not sure how to respond. The recency of Schwitzkasten? I'm still laughing about the idiom, sorry, I can't. 141.20.6.69 15:51, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

No, the recency of Swiss bar. You always have to weigh the verisimilitude of interpretations. Please read De nostri temporis studiorum ratione completely to find out why this is important before you decide to return theoretizing on Wiktionary. Fay Freak (talk) 17:59, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

@Fytcha: There are Swiss bars with several parallel grips that look like a piece of a chocolate bar. [6]