Date:  Fri, 28 Nov 1997 22:12:01 +0000
From:  Duane Campbell <dcamp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]EPIX.NET>
Subject: Re: "Ich bin ein Berliner"

At 04:25 PM 11/28/97 -0500, you 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).

As I recall from several years of living in Germany and being conversant,
though not native fluent, in German, to say that you were a citizen of a
certain place, one (sorry) would say, Ich bin Berliner (or W=FCrzburger, in
my case). Adding the indefinite article solidifies the doughnut connotation.

I was there for the City Hall speech, and as I recall there was talk at
that time of the gaffe amongst Germans. But I could be misrecollecting. At
that distance one (oops, sorry again) tends to remember what one wants to
be true. Similarly scholarly discussion is not devoid of political=
 influence.

Duane Campbell dcamp[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]epix.net
http://www.epix.net/~dcamp/