After dinner and several of Cologne's signature beers (Kölsch), President Clinton stepped out of the restaurant to find a crowd of well-wishers and press. This would be a good time to emulate John Kennedy, he evidently thought, and delivered himself of what made a giant headline in the next morning's paper: Ich bin ein Kölsch. He could have said I am a Pilsner, or I am a wheat beer, or even I am a Budweiser (a citizen of the town Budweis in the Czech Republic). But since he was in Köln, and since he wasn't quite clear that a citizen of Köln is called a Kölner, he simply said Ich bin ein Kölsch.
6 comments:
The mark of a full blooded politician! But perhaps he was drunk on the beer, a tad high perhaps? again, i never voted for him, havent for any major candidate since jimmy carter. my last mistake along those lines
x mr
the dutch have an equivalent too, about someone saying: "ik ben de konijn (instead of koning = king) van nederland" intending to say "i am king of holland", but what they said was: i am the rabbit (konijn, kaninchen) of holland.
i've always loved the word Kaninchen, not sure why.
Kanickel is the endearing equivalent. it's an odd word, certainly not of Germanic origin. Latin is my guess. Conejo in Spanish.
http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/abfrage/
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaninchen
Die Namensherkunft für das Kaninchen ist umstritten, es wird aber allgemein angenommen, dass er von cuniculus abstammt – dem lateinischen Wort für Tunnel.
Kanickel! nice.
im volksmund auch kaniggel...
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