Comments on: Dietribes: Doughnut Stop Believing

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:02:58 +0000

I object to the notion on the Salvation Army page that donuts were “unknown” in the US before WWI. That’s just ridiculous.

Maybe round donuts with a hole in the middle were “unknown”, but I’m fairly certain that the twisted stick kind wasn’t unfamiliar.

Either way, I will concede that, perhaps, the Salvation Army helped to make donuts more popular – but I don’t think that they introduced them.

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Favorite donut: apple fritter, hands down. It’s amazing.

Donut places? In the Twin Cities, Mel-O-Glaze and Granny Donuts. Just found a great place in Columbus, Ohio when I was there to visit (Buckeye Donuts, maybe?).

Josh

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:37:00 +0000

Ahh, Dunkin Donuts chocolate-iced French cruller or their apple-cinnamon filled or their glazed or their Boston cream. Forget it, I’ll have one of each.

By: SDK

SDK — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:25:00 +0000

Is there a relation to doughnuts and WWI soldiers called “doughboys”? As in is did one get their name from the other? Coincidence? I think not!

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:19:00 +0000

Dede’s Donuts in Waycross, GA. Redefines doughnuts, there are none finer, Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts do not even compare.

By: Redd

Redd — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:10:00 +0000

First Obama made me want to get a hamburger, now you guys are making me want some Krispy Kreme. Chocolate glazed…nom nom nom nom.

By: Valkyrie

Valkyrie — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:26:00 +0000

Thanks, Lynley! My professors used Kennedy’s faux-faux pas as an example when teaching us how to express various nationalities in German, so I can’t take credit for it. They also clued us in to an excellent German-English online dictionary, the link to which I came back to the comments to belatedly share. It was an absolute lifesaver! I hope it helps my fellow German students/enthusiasts out there. (It’s listed on this comment as my website.)

And Now For Something Completely Different:
This is the third Dietribe IN A ROW to exhaustively feature a food I’d already been craving for at least two weeks. My stomach and I are thinking of demanding royalties. Perhaps a restraining order, as well . . .

By: Dawn

Dawn — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:50:00 +0000

Donuts! I love donuts…and am a big fan of Dunkin’ Donuts (not Krispy Kreme). However, the closest one is in Auckland airport of all places! *sigh*

By: Lynley

Lynley — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:41:00 +0000

Couldn’t have said it better myself, Valkyrie. That’s probably the best explanation I’ve seen of the whole Berliner thing. A Berliner is a jelly-filled pastry (not unlike a doughnut), but I doubt many in the crowd thought Kennedy was suggesting that he was made of pastry. If you think about it, lots of foods are “named after” citizens of German towns – frankfurter, hamburger, etc.

By: Valkyrie

Valkyrie — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:02:00 +0000

“I am an American” or “I am American” are interchangeable in English, but only the second form is used to describe nationalities in German: “Ich bin Americaner(in).” *The parentheses denote the feminine ending some of us really should use when saying such things.*

The addition of the word “ein” changes the meaning entirely. In German, “ein” means “one” or “a(n)” and has just as many meanings and usages as those words have in English. “I am a jelly doughnut” is an accurate (and my favorite) translation, but it’s definitely not the only one, and not the one Kennedy’s German audience would have thought of upon hearing it.

English idioms are funny when taken literally, too, though. I just had to forcefully defenestrate my calendar because my professor let fall the second item of her footgear directly onto my cranium, from the direction in which I have no sight. I am now stuck a great distance North along a foul-smelling watercourse without any means of locomotion, and must communicate fervently with a deity in hopes of rescue.