Swiss souvenir - what is it?
 

A friend of mine described a souvenir she brought from Switzerland as a gift for her mom.

It looks like a clock, but it's a device to predict the weather. If the weather will be good, a woman moves out of it, like out of a koo-koo clock. If the weather is bad, a man moves out.

I believe she was serious, not pulling my leg. Anybody knows what this is, where in Switzerland can I look for it?

I have an old one from the 60s'..I think it is a crude barometer at least that's what my dad said ....Mine does not predict very well but it is my favorite souvenier...I never saw one on my last trip there..We got mine in Germany I think

Oh, I don't really care the accuracy of predictions, just this idea of a woman for a good weather and a man for a bad weather makes it a fine souvenir ;)

Barometer... sorry I have to ask, where do they sell it, what type of stores, souvenir stores? Clock stores?

A young woman told me about this, so there is still hope they make those.

Babel fish translator tells me "barometer" is the same in German, is this correct?

I think barometer is the same in both. Other dictionaries say that it is. Two other words that are "more German" that mean the same thing are:

der Luftdruckmesser

das Wetterglas

The first one translates literally as air pressure measurer
The second one as weather glass.

those gadgets are crude barometers.
I think they are more souvenir than barometer.

How about a cow bell?

My parents had one of those when I was a kid, and was indeed for predicting the weather. But it didn't look like a clock, just a little house.

Hi F,

>it's a device to predict the weather.<

Down here in the South we have a similar device.

It is a board with a donkey painted on it. There is a piece of string for the tail. You hang it outside.

Tail hanging down - no wind
Tail sideways - windy
Tail wet - rainy

((I))

LOL Ira, for Switzerland it would be a cow.

Thank you for translation, Bob. Cow bell? Only if made of chocolate :)

way to go Ira. I bet if you have a thermos that keeps hot food hot and cold food cold, you put both your gumbo and popsickle into the same thermos.

We always called them "weatherhouses". My mother-in-law is German and gave me one. Here's a link to a page where they have some for sale, so you can see what they look like.http://www.bargainsalesmasters.com/s...s_1564807.html

NicksGirl, thank you, I've printed the page, will take it along, hopefully I can find those!

Ira, never knew you are a Molvanian citizen. An ass determines your weather!

In Russia they just employ an elderly person with arthritis. If s/he hurts, a rain is coming.

Hey ronkala
>way to go Ira. I bet if you have a thermos that keeps hot food hot and cold food cold, you put both your gumbo and popsickle into the same thermos.<

Naw. We put our gumbo and our sweet tea in the same furnace.

You're welcome Faina. Enjoy Switzerland - it's absolutely beautiful. I've been 3 times to visit my mother-in-law there. We usually go in May or September. I hope you have a great time! Drink some hot chocolate for me!

Yes, my family used to have one of those barometers. A place that sells cuckoo clocks and other such devices should have the thing with the old hag with the umbrella or the smiling man not needing one.

My old one is a house with the lady with a bucket and the man with an umbrella it has a temperature gauge in the middle

OK, I found this post. Just to thank Bob Brown - I wrote the words you've kindly typed in here - on a print-out page with the weather houses. The salesperson didn't recognize the houses, but when I pointed to the written words she sent me to the right department.

Those houses are a huge success, only the man is out of the house here in San Francisco, and I don't know how to get the woman out :) And my sons' girlfriends loved them!