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.