No one knows who coined the term „Musterländle,“ or model state, but it is generally used for the state situated between the River Main and Lake Constance. One could perhaps make a guess at the significance of the term. The „le“ suffix is easily explained. The people of Baden and Swabia use it as a diminutive form for everything that seems large or important to them. When the chairman of the board of one of the global Groups, of which there are many here, invites people to his villa, he speaks of his „Häusle.“

In his garage there are several „Autole,“ as a rule Daimlers from which the type plate has been removed. The diminutive thus expresses a typical Swabian trait: a deep-seated dislike of all ostentation. Explaining the „Muster,“ or model, is more difficult. Is this state supposed to be a model? If so, of what, and for whom? Hasn’t it always been hammered into us that we should be modest? „Net gschimpft isch gnuag globt“ – meaning, not to be criticized is praise enough – whole generations of young Swabians and Badeners have been prevented from falling victim to the vice of narcissism by this expression of extreme sobriety.