# Obama's Berlin Speech and Humor **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 24, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646 "2008-07-24T19:35:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/41 "2008-07-25T13:50:18Z")
[QUOTE=tagos] You can’t be here much then. [/quote] I’m here plenty. > [@](#): > > I have a mordant sense of humour but I’d be most surprised if he isn’t assassinated. Which is hilarious… I guess. > [@](#): > > I fell asleep between the Eagle has Landed and One Small Step. Okay, well, that makes sense. It sounded like you were connect Neil Armstrong to either JFK’s assassination or a future assassination of Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/42 "2008-07-25T13:59:06Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Okay, well, that makes sense. It sounded like you were connect Neil Armstrong to either JFK’s assassination or a future assassination of Obama. [/QUOTE] I personally read it as **tagos** keeps missing out on history as it happens, and Obama’s definitely earning his place in history even if he doesn’t win the election. I didn’t catch the assassination link, though. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/43 "2008-07-25T14:00:11Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I’m here plenty. Which is hilarious… I guess. [/QUOTE] Eddie Murphy still has a career so go figure. I thought every knew it was Armstrong on the grassy knoll? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/44 "2008-07-25T14:02:17Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone] I personally read it as **tagos** keeps missing out on history as it happens, and Obama’s definitely earning his place in history even if he doesn’t win the election. [/QUOTE] Yeah, maybe so. Either way, life goes on- including for Obama, one hopes. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/45 "2008-07-25T17:13:21Z")
[QUOTE=tagos] It was in the early hours of the morn in the UK and I was just a kid. [/QUOTE] And it took a really, REALLY long time for him to, as near as I figured as a kid, unlatch his seatbelt and open the door. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/46 "2008-07-26T02:37:27Z")
[QUOTE=tagos] I watched the Obama speech live on TV and watch him live as often as I can 'cos I missed out on the assassination of JFK as it wasn’t on live TV in the UK… [/QUOTE] Neither was it in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/47 "2008-07-26T04:29:20Z")
[QUOTE=Merkwurdigliebe] He’s been funny. I like his Mitt Romney: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4pO1dIKgfPw/hqdefault.jpg "Barack Obama shocks the world!!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pO1dIKgfPw) [/QUOTE] I like his Jay-Z: [http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c1cf78470f](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c1cf78470f) (Link rated NSFW due to language) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/48 "2008-07-26T06:23:25Z")
[QUOTE=bdgr] He worded it correctly. While it could also mean a donut, the above example of saying your a new yorker would not mean you are a magazine is spot on. > **[Ich bin ein Berliner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner)** > > "Ich bin ein Berliner" (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}German pronunciation: \[ɪç bɪn ʔaɪn bɛʁˈliːnɐ\]; "I am a Berliner") is a speech by United States president John F. Kennedy given on June 26, 1963, in West Berlin. It is one of the best-known speeches of the Cold War and among the most famous anti-communist speeches. The speech ... [/QUOTE] Those who are wary of wikipedia can read this [about.com](http://about.com) article: [http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/jfk\_berliner.htm](http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/jfk_berliner.htm) > [@p.2 of my link](#): > > Linguist Jürgen Eichhoff laid decades of misinformation to rest with a concise grammatical analysis of Kennedy’s statement in the academic journal Monatshefte in 1993. “‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ is not only correct,” Eichhoff wrote, “but the one and only correct way of expressing in German what the President intended to say.” > > An actual Berliner would say, in proper German, “Ich bin Berliner.” But that wouldn’t have been the correct phrase for Kennedy to use. The indefinite article “ein” is required, Eichhoff explains, to express a metaphorical identification between subject and predicate. Otherwise, the speaker could be taken to say he is literally a citizen of Berlin. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/49 "2008-07-26T22:11:05Z")
Well, if the legend isn’t well known in Germany, it would have fallen flat on its face, so I’m glad he didn’t say it. Sorry it took so long for me to respond, but apparently an 18 wheeler rolled by in front of my house yesterday and ripped out my telephone and cable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646.md?page=2)