Destiny’s Doughnut

In the July/August issue Margarete Plischke describes coaching John F. Kennedy for his famous June 1963 speech in Berlin. She doesn’t mention, however, that when the President called out, “ Ich bin ein Berliner ,” he was not stating to the crowd that he was a citizen of Berlin as was the intention but rather that he was a jelly doughnut. Using ein (a) changed the meaning entirely. A Berliner is a sweet pastry, and the result was much like saying, “I am a Danish,” rather than “I am Danish.”