Date: Sat, 29 Nov 1997 18:29:39 +0100

From: Jan Strunk Strunk[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]T-ONLINE.DE

Subject: Re: "Ich bin ein Berliner"



The word "Berliner" is indeed the name of a jelly-filled pastry, but only

in some parts of Germany, mainly in the west and south west.

I'm from Bochum, Northrhine-Westphalia, and it's native to me.

However, in Berlin itself, this kind of pastry is called Pfannkuchen

(pancake), although it's usually fried.

The Berliners may however have known the additional sense of the word.

Although one normally says "Ich bin Berliner" without indefinite article,

it's perfectly correct, grammatical and also understandable to say

"Ich bin ein Berliner".

In conclusion, I would say, that it might be funny for some people in

Germany, but I wouldn't call it a real mistake.



sources: myself

DWA (The German Word Atlas)



Jan Strunk

strunk[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]t-online.de