It's the "wave" that captivated the world.
A German dignitary at the Olympic Games opening ceremony appeared to greet his country's athletes with a Nazi salute in London yesterday, causing London Mayor Boris Johnson and Prince Charles' wife Camilla Parker-Bowles, who were sitting nearby, to explode into a fit of giggles.
The elderly man was caught on video repeatedly extending his left arm back and fourth.
He could not be contacted for questions and though others in the crowd said it was clearly a wave, it didn't stop thousands of comments flooding world social media and news media outlets.
One message on the Daily Mail site read: "Well it makes the Germans feel at home, with a familiar gesture." But a German reader responded. "Typical. See a German and automatically you go on autopilot thinking 'Nazi'. Suppose it never occurred to you the guy was just enjoying the moment and waving? ... "
