Tuesday, April 12, 2011

JFK Was a Jelly Doughnut

According to historians, John F. Kennedy may have (accidentally) called himself a jelly doughnut.

In 1963, JFK addressed a crowd of millions in Berlin, Germany. On a last-minute decision, he said the final words of his speech in German.
He ended it with "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berliner). Ein Berliner can either mean "a Berliner" or "a jelly doughnut."
Another problem is that a native-speaking German would ommit the ein and simply say "Ich bin Berliner".

So did he say he was from Berlin, or simply a jam-filled pastry?

Funny what you learn while reading a German travel guide.

1 comment:

  1. True, Berliner also means jelly doughnut – except in Berlin it doesn't. They call that thing Pfannkuchen here, which in the rest of the country means pancake. ;)

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