Ich bin ein Berliner!
„Ich bin ein Berliner“ (“I am a citizen of Berlin”) The famous statement expressed by John F. Kennedy on June 26, 1963 in front of the Cityhall Schöneberg, on the 15th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift and the first US-presidential visit to Berlin since August 13, 1961, the date the Berlin Wall was constructed. With his speech, President Kennedy wanted to convey his solidarity with the people of West-Berlin.
“Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was ‘Civis Romanus sum’. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’.”
“All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’!”
So did JFK say “I am a jelly doughnut”?
Ehem, jaein or yes and no. It is more common to say “Ich bin Berliner“, or for me: “Ich bin Amerikanerin” with no article (ein or eine). But that’s just a play with grammar, in a worthless sense; the people in Germany who heard the speech understood well what he meant.
SO where did the mistranslated jelly doughnut phrase come from? Not sure, but an 1988 article in the New York Times perpetuates the legend. Yes, there are doughnut variants from different parts in Germany. Throughout Germany, a doughnut filled with jam is called a “Berliner”, everywhere except Berlin of course. bhah!
People from Berlin ask for Pfannkuchen. But Pfannkuchen in other parts of German is known as a pancake. To make this more complicated, Bavaria has their own name from a jellydoughnut: Krapfen. The most common type is filled with apricot jam and topped with powdered sugar. And there is a specific period when they are to be eating, between mid-January and Fasching (known as Carnival, traditionally a Roman Catholic celebration).
-with help from Wikipedia
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Too funny about the berliner. That’s what intriguing about learning German on your own (with the help of the internet of course) is that there’s a whole other world when it comes to food. Getting schnitzel for instance, Jager Art, Zigeuner Art etc.
I must confess to not doing much German right now. I’m too busy trying to get the house sorted out etc. I have spoken basic broken German in the past (well over 20 years ago) and I hope that when I start to feel comfortable enough that I will send out emails and maybe sentences in blogs in German. My cousin is married to an Austrian and the dialect they speak is close to what I hear around me in Bavaria so I think she’ll be very helpful.
Auf Wiedersehen.
w0w… how confusing…
as for webmeister… she’s had summers to play around!
glad you guys found a home!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!