Date: Sat, 29 Nov 1997 17:11:07 -0500

From: Ron Butters RonButters[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM

Subject: Re: "Ich bin ein Berliner"



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).



I remember asking my German friends about this when I lived in Bamberg. They

agreed that "Ich bin ein Berliner" was not the way a native would say it AND

that it could be interpeted as meaning 'I am a jelly donut'; however,

pragmatically, since it is not at all likely that that was what JFK meant,

people did not tend to interpret it that way. One makes allowances for

foreigners, after all.