On Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:13:20 -0700, Michael Sylvester wrote:
On the 50th anniversary of John Kennedy's speech of he being a Berliner,
some questions were raised as to whether he used the appropriate
German phraseology.What did Kennedy say and what should he have said?
First, what you have in the subject is some really weird stuff. Google's
translate program says:
"Isch bin eich Berliner" translates into "Ish'm custody Berlin".
Maybe that some kind of downlow German jive talk but I tend to doubt it.
What Kennedy said was "Ich bin ein Berliner" which some have disparaged
(e.g., my high school German teacher who just happened to be a fascist
priest but that another story) because although Google translates it into
"I am a Berliner" it can also be interpreted as "I am a jelly doughnut"
(usually by people, like my German teacher, who would proudly say
"Ich bin ein A-hole"). For more on this point see:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/jfk_berliner.htm
NOTE: Some (like my a-hole German teacher) have said that Kennedy
should have said *Ich bin Berliner* (no quotes) which Google Translate
interprets as "I am in Berlin" which is not what Kennedy was trying to say.
As the cross-cultural dude on Tips,is it true that the best German is
spoken
in Hanover?
Depends on what one means by "best" and "German". NOTE: Hanover
is a good place to get your daily dose of Derp; see:
http://offthewall.tv/video/derp_derelict_places_-_hanover_germany
NOTE: Derp in Hanover is not the same derp as the derp used here; see:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=derp
To all a derp day.
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected].
To unsubscribe click here:
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=26095
or send a blank email to
leave-26095-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
