A safe response
Once in Germany when I was still a youngster, I was asked where I came from and I answered that I was a Parisian - ein Pariser. But I was told to avoid the word, which also apparently means a condom!
Editor's note: A Parisian can play it safe by saying Ich komme aus Paris - I come from Paris.
Sent by: Xavier
Comments
Kennedy said totally right when he said Ich bin ein Berliner because only in the other areas of germany a Berliner is someting to eat. in Berlin they use Pfannkuchen for this. So everyone understood what Kennedy wanted to say.
What Kennedy said would be the English grammatical equivalent to saying "I am a Danish"- people would still have understood what it was that he meant.
I also made a similar mistake, when a German friend asked me where my father was from, I made the mistake of saying er ist Irin, he is an Irishwoman, instead of er ist Ire.
That reminds me when I was about to leave on a trip to Paris, my Grandpa said Grüß die Pariser schön!- literally "greet the condoms", while what he meant of course, is "Give Parisians my regards". The rest of the assembled family had a good laugh, especially as I was going with my new boyfriend ...
It's possible to say ich bin ein Berliner; or ich bin ein Pariser without getting strange looks, actually - people might remember Kennedy when they hear the first line, but there's no automatic connotations of jelly donuts or condoms in either case outside of that.
I also made a similar mistake. Instead of saying Ich bin Ire, I am Irish, I told them I was mad: Ich bin irre.
Incidentally, the same faux pas was made by John F. Kennedy when he gave his famous speech in Berlin. Saying, ich bin ein Berliner translated into 'I am a jelly donu', although he meant to say he was a citizen of Berlin. The correct phrase would have been ich bin Berliner, without the definite article ein. Just as ein Pariser is a condom, ein Berliner is what the colloquial term for a jelly donut. Oh well, he had good intentions!
Equally "Ich bin ein Engländer" means "I am an adjustable spanner" but "Ich bin Engländer" is "I am an English person".
Flag this comment