how embarrassment

Tony Abbott threatening to “shirt-front” Putin? And that meme that has the two of them side by side, Tony shirtless in his budgie smugglers and Putin shirtless on his horse? It arose the same day he made his remark and it says, “….wait.”

I just explained all this to my immigrant boyfriend, a Berliner who has gleefully been singing out “Team Australia!” whenever he sees someone do something stupid. I acted out the shirt-fronting to show him what it was. Then I had to let him go because I was weeping with laughter. The aggression and arrogance of the gesture made it ridiculous. I am still laughing and he is shaking his head, muttering to himself in German. “Furchtbar ist es. Peinlich ist es. Unglaublich.”

My stomach aches. My heart too, a little. “It’s so awful. It’s embarrassing. Unbelievable.”