Shutting up the Table Coach

[CrisBrown]

Hi Fred,

Actually, Internet wonkitude notwithstanding, the correct German sentence for JFK would have been "Ich bin Berliner" ("I am a Berliner"). It was no different from what Gerhard Shröder said on 9/11/2001: "Today, we are all Americans."

"Ich bin ein Berliner" does not mean "I am one with the people of Berlin." It was a misstatement. That's fine. JFK wasn't a German-speaker, and he was relying on what speechwriters and language coaches had told him. Everyone knew what he meant by it, and they heard what he meant and not what he said.

Don't believe everything you read on urban legend websites. Some of what you read there is every bit as much "urban legend" as the urban legends they purport to debunk.

Cris