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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