Ich bin ein Berliner

John F. Kennedy coined the phrase Ich bin ein Berliner back in 1963. It was a promise and a boost for all West-Berliners who feared for their freedom in the cold war era (read the Wikipedia article). These days though the phrase is frequently used in the post-unification Berlin very much in the same way as e.g. I love New York. T-shirts with the print are bought by tourists wanting to express their support for and affection of this vibrant million city - and take a piece of Berlin home with them.

Truth is, once in a while you arrive in a place and feel right away that this is it, this is my kind of town! Berlin did that for me and many others who were attending the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics this August. The phrase Ich bin ein Berliner became reality to us. The Games themselves were finely organized and the stadium of course superb!  

A Berliner would skip the indefinite article ein though, and just say ich bin Berliner. You can add the article if you are not actually from Berlin, but just want to let know that you sympathize with the city. The word Berliner was and is being used of the German Pfannkuchen only outside Berlin itself - so Kennedy's usage of the word was quite correctly understood by Berliners.

From now on every time that I have a Berliner with my coffee home in Helsinki - they are glazed with pink sugar (with or without sprinkles) and called berliininmunkki in Finnish - I will be thinking of you, Berlin! And next time I will definitely have a Pfannkuchen!

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