WBA NewsroomA decade or so ago, there was a big fad among TV reporters that while giving a stand-up report, you let your arms hang loose, and put your hands together just below your waistline – with your two thumbs and your two index fingers touching, forming a sort of “V” or triangle with your hands. Some consultants called it “triangle hands”. Some called it “V hands”.
My wife, a recovering TV reporter, and I, would laugh whenever we saw reporters doing the “triangle hands” on stand-ups. One time as we were watching a newscast, our son walked into the media room, looked at the TV, and laughed. He was studying ASL (American Sign Language) in high school. When we asked what made him laugh, he said “triangle hands” was ASL slang for “the V-word” – a woman’s private parts.
Thankfully, the “triangle hands” or “V hands” went away.
Fast forward to 2016 and now it seems there’s an epidemic of “wavy hands” among TV reporters and anchors, and a trend in which reporters thank or greet anchors who introduce their live shots.
Veteran news coach and contest judge Bob Priddy has some entertaining thoughts about this latest fad in this brief article for the RTDNA.
Posted by Tim Morrissey