Yay! Despite only two semesters of German and no German practice for nearly two years, I could read all that just fine.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I actually asked a German about that quote. She said that a "Berliner" is both the resident of the city and the doughnut named after the city. Just like a "Hamburger" would be the meat patty and the resident of Hamburg.
But people like to make fun of the president who said that quote - trying to identify himself with the residents of Berlin - but it's not really as justified as the joke suggests.
I, uh, know very very little German - generally literal translations of catchphrases of the house I lived in with three Germans. The idiomatic part of the phrases don't get translated, and she did it on purpose. "Boot in the bum" is really a funny image if you take all the words at face value.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Actually, Kennedy's usage changed the language.
Before then, the primary meaning was 'filled doughnut'. The more distant secondary meaning of 'resident of Berlin' was considered slightly insulting in the manner of 'Frisco' being used for 'SanFrancisco'.
However, the politics of Kennedy using the word to claim solidarity with the WestGermans against Soviet malice popularized the phrase, and legitimized the word.
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