I heard this when I was coming up the escalator at the underground today. Two middle-aged, short Franconian men who didn’t look like masters of industry:
A (with pauses) Merkel – Merkel – Merkel.
B Ja, ja!
A. Aber Merkel.
B. Aber der Schröder bleibt.
A. Der Schröder bleibt. Die Schrotkugel bleibt.
B. Ja, ja!
A. Aber die Merkel aa! (= auch)
Of course, this may have been the end of a longer conversation.
Schrotkugel? I knew Kugel was ‘bullet’, but I had to do an online translation to find ‘pellet ball’. What’s that referring to?
Schrot implies a shotgun, yes. I’ve never heard it for Schroeder before. It may be just a private joke or a not very amusing play on the sound of his name. Google reveals nothing either. I think it’s just part of the rather bizarre quality of this kind of conversation.
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