After the botanic gardens I visited the Sunday markets on the roof of the bus station. At one stall I discovered a German couple selling tempting looking pastries and bought an egg liqueur filled Berliner from them. They spoke fluent Spanish and looked like they had been living in Gran Canaria for years. The Berliner was heavenly.
There is an urban legend that John F. Kennedy committed a linguistic solecism when he famously declared: Ich bin ein Berliner. If you want to say you are a resident of Berlin, you leave out the indefinite article as in Ich bin Berliner. According to the urban legend, JFK in effect said: I am a jam doughnut.
However, an academic piece has defended JFK's phrase on these grounds: JFK was not a resident of Berlin so he did not have the right to claim that he was a Berliner, only solidarity with them, and the pastry in question was called Pfannkuchen. In any case, at the time the audience understood what he meant; nobody noticed the ambiguity or made fun of him. Still, it's an amusing urban legend.
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