• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Did John F. Kennedy ever say: "I am a doughnut!" ?

Did John F. Kennedy ever say: "I am a doughnut!" ?

  • yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • no

    Votes: 5 100.0%
  • maybe

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5

Rumpel

DP Veteran
Joined
Aug 10, 2019
Messages
37,965
Reaction score
7,094
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Undisclosed
Did John F. Kennedy ever say: "I am a doughnut!" ?
 
Rumpel, according to Wikipedia (knows all, tells all :) ) . . .

There is a widespread misconception that Kennedy accidentally said that he was a Berliner, a German doughnut specialty. This is an urban legend which emerged several decades after the speech, and it is not true that residents of Berlin in 1963 would have mainly understood the word "Berliner" to refer to a jelly doughnut or that the audience laughed at Kennedy's use of this expression.

 
This is an urban legend which emerged several decades after the speech, and it is not true that residents of Berlin in 1963 would have mainly understood the word "Berliner" to refer to a jelly doughnut or that the audience laughed at Kennedy's use of this expression.

I agree.
That is just an urban legend.

A donut may be called "a Berliner" elsewhere, but NOT in the city of Berlin.
 
I agree.
That is just an urban legend.

A donut may be called "a Berliner" elsewhere, but NOT in the city of Berlin.

All this talk about donuts is making be hungry. Unfortunately, I don't have any donuts, but I do have a Little Debbie Bar. I wonder if Kennedy said anything about Little Debbie Bars. :)
 
All this talk about donuts is making be hungry. Unfortunately, I don't have any donuts, but I do have a Little Debbie Bar. I wonder if Kennedy said anything about Little Debbie Bars. :)
That would start another theory! :)
 
More facts:

Kennedy's famous line was penned by someone who was raised within Berlin itself and was an accomplished and highly regarded translator in his own right. In proclaiming "Ich bin ein Berliner," therefore, JFK was no more referring to himself as a pastry than someone calling himself a "New Yorker" would have been understood by Americans as styling himself to be a magazine or a town car. Just as "I'm American" and "I'm an American" are both correct, so are "Ich bin ein Berliner" and "Ich bin Berliner." (In fact, some German speakers would regard the former to be the more correct for someone who was speaking figuratively, as Kennedy was.)

 
And again:

President Kennedy did not misspeak, which explains why the myth developed only outside of Germany; see the serious image from German media at left where JFK’s words were reprinted. But even if Kennedy had misspoken, Professor Eichhoff adds, native speakers of German would have understood precisely what he meant. And in an ironic twist, the dialect word Berliner, referring to a pastry, is not even used in the city of Berlin, but farther west. Interestingly, it was introduced by nineteenth-century immigrants into the English of the Upper Midwest ....
 
And again:



How about that! The term "Berliner" isn't even used in Germany! Who would've thunk it? :)
 
How about that! The term "Berliner" isn't even used in Germany! Who would've thunk it? :)
Well, it is used in parts of Germany, but not in Berlin itself. :)
 
We could go on with Frankfurter, Lyoner, Wiener, Krakauer, Schwarzwälder etc etc ...
Many things are named after towns and regions. :)
 
@ Schwarzwälder

When I declare correctly: "Ich bin ein Schwarzwälder!" = "I am from the Black Forest!" ....
.... some may claim that I have said: "I am a cherry cake!"

Because the Black Forest Cherry Cake is often referred to as a Schwarzwälder, for short.
 
We could go on with Frankfurter, Lyoner, Wiener, Krakauer, Schwarzwälder etc etc ...
Many things are named after towns and regions. :)

:) You're cracking me up here! I don't think I could travel though Germany without gaining 15 pounds! :)
 

Vienna sausage​


Vienna sausage (German: Wiener Würstchen, Wiener; Viennese/Austrian German: Frankfurter Würstel or Würstl; Swiss German: Wienerli; Swabian: Wienerle or Saitenwurst) is a thin parboiled sausage traditionally made of pork and beef in a casing of sheep's intestine, then given a low temperature smoking.[1][2] The word Wiener is German for Viennese.[3] In Austria, the term "Wiener" is uncommon for this food item, which instead is usually called Frankfurter Würstl.[4]


Fun fact:
In Frankfurt this sausage is a Wiener - in Vienna it is a Frankfurter. :)
 
Kennedy in Hamburg: Ich bin ein Hamburger!
Kennedy in Lyon: Ich bin ein Lyoner!
Kennedy in Tramin (South Tyrol): Ich bin ein Traminer! - Or even a Gewürz-Traminer! :)

The term hamburger originally derives from Hamburg, the second-largest city in Germany; however, there is no certain connection between the food and the city

 
We could go on with Frankfurter, Lyoner, Wiener, Krakauer, Schwarzwälder etc etc ...
Many things are named after towns and regions. :)

What do the good people of Hamburg call those mystery meat things in McDonalds buns? :giggle:


ps
I must read to the end before commenting. I must read to the end before commenting. I must read t.......
 
This is really fascinating--and funny.

When Nixon said, "I am not a crook," did he mean he wasn't one of those shepherd cane things? :)

.
Really good. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
And again:


I've often wondered what Germans actually call a "jelly donut".
 
Did John F. Kennedy ever say: "I am a doughnut!" ?
Kinda. His statement could be humorously interpreted that way, as "berliner" can mean either a person from Berlin or a doughnut supposedly invented there.
 
Back
Top Bottom