3/30/2004 09:16:10 AM|||Mike|||for open eyes only has a picture of a Berliner.
JFK's mistake was a bit subtle - in German, place affiliations that apply to people are always adjectives, not nouns. For example, in German, "I am an American" would be incorrect - "I am American" would be correct. So would "I am an American man."

Which means that the sentiment he was trying to express can't exactly be said in German. He could claim the characteristic of Berliner, but not actually being Berliner.

I think this is a counterexample to language's power. German speakers have not, historically, shown less strong group identification than those whose languages allow one to be a group affiliation rather than just have one. "I am an American" is a far stronger statement than "I am American". This first defines me, the second merely describes me.
|||108065977044977608|||Ich bin ein Berliner!