Re: the can of worms is truly open revisited

["Richard Henderson" Richard.Henderson@xxxxxxxx]

As wonderful as the Internet is, just because a website claims to debunk urban legends with the "truth," you can't always believe what you find on the WWW.

The "Answers.com" reply starts out on solid ground, but in the explanation of the remark
starting at "Jelly doughnuts are called Berliner outside Berlin (but usually referred to as
Pfannkuchen in Berlin itself)..." it loses it's way.

I was stationed in Berlin with the US Army in 1972, as a German linguist (albeit not a native
speaker, but trained by native speakers at the Defense Language Institute - West Coast Branch). The
"jelly doughnut" story was oft talked about at that time, six years ahead of the origin
cited in the "Answers.com" piece. Additionally, in my experience a jelly doughnut in
Berlin during 1972-73, at least, was normally called a Berliner by the locals, and understood as
such when I ordered them at a number of bakeries. [By the way: the Amerikaner was a "flying
saucer" shaped cake with frosting on top].

The second citation doesn't disprove the mistake either. It is a nice story, with a diplomatic
explanation of what JFK meant, but not what he said or how it was received. There may not have been
a spontaneous burst of laughter by the crowd, but that doesn't mean that the spoken phrase was
properly constructed for the audience then at hand.

To hear the speech for yourself, please go to: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkichbineinberliner.html

You will hear a loud response from the audience after the statement is made. Whether the response
is composed of cheers, laughter, or a combination of can not be determined. And the translator's
version can not be heard in this example.

ABout.com's explanation that "Even AltaVista's Babel Fish translation software ― not
always the most accurate of interpreters ― was able to make sense of the phrase when I typed
it in verbatim just now, rendering "Ich bin ein Berliner" as "I am a citizen of
Berlin" in English without missing a ping (try it yourself!)" is true, the response for
"Ich bin Berliner" at the same site is "I am citizen of Berlin" So perhaps this
episode of history has altered the German language since June 23, 1963.

It just might be that whether "ein" is used to describe one's citizenship, or not is a
regional difference, with "Ich bin Berliner" the norm in Berlin in 1963, and "Ich bin
ein Stuttgarter" in Stuttgart today.