On June 26, 1963, John F. Kennedy gave his famous speech in Berlin where he uttered the phrase, "Ich Bin Ein Berliner." This phrase does not, despite lots of serious and pop references to the contrary, mean "I am a jelly donut." Instead, Kennedy was trying to express his solidarity with the individuals who lived in Berlin. The confusion comes in due to the fact that Berliner could refer to a jelly donut or a citizen of Berlin combined with the fact that the president used the word "Ein" in front of Berliner. However, his grammar was perfectly correct and stories of Germans laughing at this statement during the speech seem to be grossly exaggerated or not true to begin with. You can read more about this from About.com's Urban Legends site
- http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/jfk_berliner.htm
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