The AFU and Urban Legend Archive Language kennedy berliner quote Select a topic - - - - - - - - Home Searches AFU FAQ - - - - - - - - AFU Animals Books Celebrities Classic Collegiate Death Disney Drugs Food GIF Language Legal Medical Misc Movies Politics Products Religion Science Sex Songs TV - - - - - - - - Other sites

From: mue@cony.gsf.de (Bernhard Muenzer)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Kennedy the Sausage
Date: 3 Feb 1995 11:43:43 GMT

In article <D3E78K.MC2@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, flb3c@jm.acs.Virginia.EDU (Bo Bradham) writes:
| This entry from the afu FAQ should shed some light: |
| T. JF Kennedy said "Ich bin ein Berliner." Could be either "I | am a native of Berlin" or "I am a jelly doughnut." Berliners knew | what he was talking about
|
| The way I understand it is that the use of the article "ein" made | the word "Berliner" take on the meaning "jelly doughnut." Anyone | who knows German can jump in here any time and set the record | straight.

Kennedy used a form that was grammatically correct, but ambiguous and not commonly used. In English, it would be like saying "I am a Hamburger" instead of "I'm from Hamburg".

In Berlin, the word "Berliner" denotes a [male] person from Berlin. Jelly donuts are called "Pfannkuchen" there.

Outside of Berlin, a "Pfannkuchen" is a pancake, that's why it became necessary to use the term "Berliner Pfannkuchen" to denote the jelly donut, which usually gets shortened to "Berliner".

In a similiar vein, ordering a "Wiener" in Vienna is considered slightly offensive; those little sausages are called "Frankfurter" there (and in Frankfurt, they are called "Wiener").

Everybody in Germany knows the Kennedy quote (and its double meaning).

Comedians sometimes make use of this with the joke: "In his speech at the upcoming conference in Paris, <insert appropriate politician's name> will try to achieve what Kennedy has done in Berlin."

The usual procedure is telling this with a deadpan face and count the seconds the audience needs to find out it is a joke and get the point.

(The German slang word "Pariser", possibly derived from "Praeservativ", describes one of the most widely used contraceptive devices.)

So imagine the feelings of a Berliner in a Texas Frankfurter shop when he finds out that the Wiener he is eating is made with preservatives.

b "tying up all loose ends to finish this thread" m