I used to love the story that President John Kennedy, when he said "Ich bin ein Berliner," uttered the equivalent of "I am a jelly donut." Unfortunately, it turns out that his German was a proper rendering of "I am a Berliner," according to Jurgen Eichhoff, "'Ich bin ein Berliner': A History and Linguistic Clarification," Monatshefte für den deutschen Unterricht, deutsche Sprache und Kultur 85 (1993) 71–80.
Braunschweiger means both a native of Braunschweig and a type of sausage. Because the English equivalent of Braunschweig is Brunswick and because I was born in Brunswick, I could describe myself as a Braunschweiger.
# posted by Michael Gilleland @ 4:56 PM
