The goose step is a special marching step performed on formal military parades and other ceremonies. While marching in parade formation, troops swing their legs in unison high off the ground, while keeping their legs straight and unbent.
Originating in Prussian military drill in the mid-18th century, the step was called the Stechschritt (literally, "piercing step") or Stechmarsch. Although "goose step" is a pejorative term in English, it is used officially by the armed forces of the nearly 30 countries that maintain the tradition.
Read more about Goose Step: History, Ceremonial Usage, Current Adoption, Abandonment, Association With Dictatorship, Popular Awareness
Famous quotes containing the words goose and/or step:
“When goose down is sent a thousand miles, the gift may be light but the sentiment is weighty.”
—Chinese proverb.
“There were ghosts that returned to earth to hear his phrases,
As he sat there reading, aloud, the great blue tabulae.
They were those from the wilderness of stars that had expected more.
There were those that returned to hear him read from the poem of life,
Of the pans above the stove, the pots on the table, the tulips among them.
They were those that would have wept to step barefoot into reality....”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)