Home » Segments » The Merkel-Raute

The Merkel-Raute

Even foreign dignitaries can be plagued with the age-old problem of standing around in public: what do you do with your hands? German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken to holding her hands in a certain way so often that it’s been named the Merkel-Raute, or Merkel rhombus, which pretty accurately describes the shape she’s making. This is part of a complete episode.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More from this show

Smarmy, A Winner of a Word?

According to Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English (Bookshop|Amazon) by Ben Yagoda, the word smarmy, meaning “unctuous” or “ingratiating,” may come from a 19th-century magazine contest, in which readers sent in...

Saying Oh for Zero

Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...

Recent posts