Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 09:36:00 +0000

From: David Bergdahl bergdahl[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU

Subject: Re: "Ich bin ein Berliner"



Kendra Banks Perry wrote:



When I was in Austria studying German, my teacher told us that the word

"Berliner" does indeed refer to a jelly doughnut in some areas (every

little district seems to have different words for pastries). He said

that Kennedy's remark was, however, easily understood with its original

intent and was not the disastrous gaffe some people make it out to be.



Kendra Banks Perry



banks[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]andrews.edu

http://www.andrews.edu/~banks



There is no question that Kennedy's utterance was interpretable in the

sense he meant it, but I believe the usual utterance would be "Ich komme

aus Berlin"--the "Ich bin. . ." sounds like a calque.

--

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