Re: built-in rules

["David B. Kronenfeld" kfeld@xxxxxxxx]

I don't know from German, so I'll stick to English. "I am a Danish." vs.
"I am Danish." seems to more or less parallel the German Berliner bit. "I
am a Danish" does point to the pastry--but, of course, if we know it's a
foreigner speaking, and if we have some relevant context, we can go for the
political or ethnic association. But (but) of course we also have "I am a
Dane." which, of course, is not pastry. Sort of at issue, I guess, is the
adjective vs. noun issue, wherein the "Danish" in "I am a Danish." is an
adjective, and thus seems to imply and elided noun "pastry" (as in "Danish
Pastry"), whereas, in "I am Danish" the "Danish is presumed to be an
attribute of the subject ("I"). This is fine as long as we know about
Danish pastry. "I am American." sounds OK, but normally seems linked to
some conversational context (as in "What are you ?" "I am an American.");
but, for me at least, the more general statement would be "I am an
American." Given the lack, in America, of any "American Pastry", we infer
that the elided noun in "I am an American." must be something like "citizen".


My point, I guess, is that it all is indeed confusing. I would add that
regularities, patterns, and common expressions do not make for rules that
must be rigidly adhered to--either by speakers or by hearers.


                Cheers,
                    David

At 05:59 PM 5/25/2005, you wrote:

Wofgang Bechstein wrote:

minute that he had said "I am a jelly donut"....the phrase itself, "Ich
bin ein Berliner" was correct, both grammatically and in the idiomatic and
intended meaning of "I am a citizen of Berlin". That there are also jelly
donuts called "Berliners" (one of my favorite types of pastry) is neither
here nor there. >


Danken Sie wohl, Wolfgang. I had long suspected that was the case, but my
four years of college German were too far in the past to let me dare
contradict those who _seemed_ to know whereof they spoke. Perhaps they
were too literal-minded to understand that a given word may have more that
one meaning--a fact that makes puns possible.

Patricia



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