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John F. Kennedy’s Statement “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” was Not Interpreted as “I am a Jelly-Filled Doughnut”
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Original Message
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Myth: John F. Kennedy blundered in one of his most famous speeches, saying in German “I am a jelly-filled doughnut” instead of what he meant (in the figurative sense) “I am a person from Berlin”.
As German professor Reinhold Aman stated about this:
“Ich bin ein Berliner means ‘I am a Berliner’ or ‘a male person/native of Berlin’ and absolutely nothing else! … No intelligent native speaker of German tittered in Berlin when J.F.K. spoke, just as no native speaker of German, or one who does know this language, would titter if someone said, ‘Ich bin ein Wiener’, or Hamburger or Frankfurter.”
Yet another linguist, Jürgen Eichhoff, in his paper covering the misconception stated, “‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ is not only correct, but the one and only correct way of expressing in German what the President intended to say.”
The fact that this is a myth shouldn’t be a surprise to many because if “Ich bin ein Berliner” had been interpreted, “I am a jelly-filled doughnut”, it likely would have been major comedic news at the time. The reality was, though, that the first known record of anyone interpreting it as such wasn’t until 1983, in the novel Berlin Game, 20 years after the speech was made: ...
[link to www.todayifoundout.com]
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