Word To Use Today: Berliner.

A Berliner is an inhabitant of Berlin. President J F Kennedy was declaring solidarity with the beleaguered city when, on a visit in 1963, he said Ich bin ein Berliner.

Berliner Pfannkuchen are doughnuts, and much amusement has been caused by the idea that President Kennedy was declaring himself to be a fried pastry. Sadly, in some ways, the story doesn't quite work, especially as in Berlin they aren't called Berliner Pfannkuchen anyway, but just Pfannkuchen.

Ah well, I seem to remember that President Jimmy Carter made up for this when he visited Hamburg and said Ich bin ein Hamburger...but surely that can't be true, either, because I can't find mention of it anywhere on the web.

Berliner is also a small-format newspaper - the sort that doesn't wrap itself round your head when it's windy, or tear in two when you try to turn the page, or require formation-reading on a crowded train.

Berliners are, naturally, despised by those who have mastered the arts of reading the large broadsheet formats.

Word To Use Today: Berliner. Technically a Berliner newspaper is slightly bigger than the usual size of tabloid newspaper, but the tabloid press has adopted the term, presumably to make themselves look a little more respectable. 

The format was first manufactured in Berlin.