LL-L "Traditions" 2008.12.31 (06) E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 31 December 2008 - Volume 06
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From: Marcus Buck <list at marcusbuck.org>
Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2008.12.30 (05) [E]

From: Brooks, Mark <mark.brooks at twc.state.tx.us <mailto:
mark.brooks at twc.state.tx.us>>

Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2008.12.30 (04) [E]

Ron wrote:  "In much of Northern Germany the equivalent, eaten on the same
occasions, is the /Berliner/."

I've heard that when JFK said in his speech at the Berlin Wall, "Ich bin ein
Berliner," he had inadvertently call himself a jelly doughnut.  I've also
heard that he should have said, "Ich bin Berliner."  I've seen the video
countless times, but is that story true?

Mark Brooks

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com <mailto:sassisch at yahoo.com>>


Subject: Traditions
Mark, I believe the Berliner story is correct, just as you wrote it. In such
constructions the article tends to be omitted. Similarly for instance /Er
ist Amerikaner/ 'He is American' versus /Er ist ein Amerikaner/ 'He is a
black-and-white cookie'. (The German version isn't necessarily
black-and-white, though:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerikaner_(Geb%C3%A4ck)<http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerikaner_%28Geb%C3%A4ck%29><
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerikaner_%28Geb%C3%A4ck%29>, or /Er ist
Pariser/ 'He is a Parisian' versus /Er ist ein Pariser/ 'He is a condom'.

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

What? No! The urban legend says, that the audience found his sentence funny.
That they laughed about Kennedy stating "I am a jelly doughnut!" That's not
true. Nobody laughed. Nobody even noticed any ambiguity. For the Berlin
people it was one of the most important and most remembered speeches of the
younger history. "Ich bin ein Berliner!" is perfectly grammatical. "Ich bin
Berliner!" would have been grammatical too.
"Ich bin Berliner!" would have been less ambiguous, cause the 'jelly
doughnut' thing only works with the article present. But "Ich bin ein
Berliner!" sounds better. And the ambiguity is very far-fetched. It's only
ambiguous if you want to misunderstand it. And thus, the 'jelly doughnut'
myth only emerged in American media in the 1980s.

Read Wikipedia on it: <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner#Jelly_doughnut_urban_legend
>

Marcus Buck

•

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