Ich bin Grammatiker gewesen

[ndrosen]

At the meeting of USPTO Toastmasters on Thursday, I was the Grammarian, and it was my job to listen for grammatical errors, and for especially good uses of grammar. Early in the meeting, I stood up and told people what I would do, but I did so in German, saying that I had studied grammar in four languages (I didn't say that I could actually speak four languages). I warned people that I would listen, and that I would complain about any errors. This created some amusement, and one member had me repeat my little speech in English. Someone asked whether I had been speaking Russian, and I said that it had been German.