Obermann's explanation about Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" was wrong...

[skooooo]

Keith doesn't know his German grammar. He said that Kennedy made a blooper by using the word "Berliner." That wasn't the problem. Kennedy should have said "Ich bin Berliner." Adding the "ein" in there is what changes the meaning to a "jelly donut."

An "F" for Keith in German grammar today!!

:evilgrin:

[Bluebear]

1. Herr Olbermann, leider ein "F" heute.

[Forkboy]

2. "It's slang, he's American, he's a fuckin donut"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mu02xUgE4k

[skooooo]

5. I love Eddie!!

:hi:

[Jackpine Radical]

3. At that moment, I don't think the Germans cared if he was a jelly donut...

as long as those C-47's and C-130's kept coming.

[Mira]

4. Yeah - Kennedy should have left out the word "ein" as you said

but I think then and now the impact of the statement was huge, it made me cry at that time, I was living in Germany then.
It was way later that the grammar was dissected.
Another word for the "Berliner" as a doughnut is "Krapfen".
Imagine Kennedy of Keith making that one work.

Keith got in a good one making the point with the "Danish" though. That made me laugh out loud.

[Cassandra]

7. Actually, Keith was wrong about the Danish, too.

Danes call that Vienna Bread (Wienerbrod). Austrians and everyone else call it Danish.

[Mass]

19. In fact, French call it Viennoiseries (from Vienna)

I do not know how the Austrian call it.

[TheWraith]

6. Actually, using "ein" is grammatically fine.

It's not really an indefinite pronoun.

http://www.esskultur.net/lm/berliner3.html

[skooooo]

8. It changes the meaning.

Your link doesn't negate what I've said.

[Squatch]

21. "Ich bin ein Berliner" is perfectly fine

As a native speaker of German, I can say that that phrase is perfectly fine.

[Vickers]

9. Ich komme aus Berlin.

Translation: I came from a donut.

:P

[skooooo]

10. noooooooo

You're not getting it at all.
:banghead:


Not that it's very important I guess.
:hi:

[Vickers]

17. That was the humor, babe!

:P

Aw man, I have a really funny German joke, but it dates back to when a phone call was 20 pfennig...

[spinbaby]

11. Ich bin ein Berliner sounds just fine to me

And I'm a native German speaker. I'm from Pittsburgh and I would say that Ich bin ein PIttsburgher.

[skooooo]

12. yeah but schoolbook German..

...is what is used as standard I guess.

[moondust]

13. Exactly.

I've always thought people were crazy for trying to make a big deal out of this. Probably started by some wingnuts trying to embarrass JFK.

[skooooo]

14. It's not a big deal....

Just something humorous that happened.

And at this point, I abandon the thread, because it's also not that important.

Regardless, Keith totally mangled the issue today.

[tabasco]

15. Aber, sind sie ein Steeler fan?

That's the important stuff!

[Hieronymus]

16. Actually, Ich bin ein Berliner means, I am a Berliner. Isn't it time

to forgive Keith for having preferred Obama to Hillary?

[ConsAreLiars]

18. Sheesh - your post is a great example of being blinded by bias.

I am American.

I am an American.

Same thing, both grammatically correct.

The point was that "Berliner" in Berlin is not used to describe the type of pastry that is in other regions known by that name, any more than a "Frankfurter" or "Hamburger" would think that those words referred to forms of ground meat.

Get it?

Thought not.

(edit typos)

[Mass]

20. I noticed too. However, it is a fine point that goes way over the head of other people as you can

see from the thread, and I am not surprised that Keith did not know that.