I think I've soiled myself

Ich bin ein Berliner

Any German, or other expats and internationals, who arrogantly derided the Swiss for not wearing masks, must've felt uncomfortable watching around 38,000 disobedients taking to the streets of Berlin in protest against Germany's COVID-19 restrictions. The attempt to storm the Reichstag was a sideshow by right-wing agitators; any peaceful, democratic protest is susceptible to hijack by extremists.

That fact notwithstanding, there's a large number of German citizens who'd be right at home in Switzerland…if it weren't for the fact that most Swiss cannot abide Germans.


There's an urban legend that John F. Kennedy's declaration Ich bin ein Berliner translates as I'm a doughnut. The truth, as is so often the case, is more mundane. The phrase has a double meaning, but he got it right.