2/18/2024 0 Comments Hand waving copy paste text artIt is unclear when the figurative usage arose. " (- Sinclair Lewis), which dates to the mid-17th century as a hyphenated verb and the early 19th century United States as a fully compounded verb. However it is spelled, the expression is also used in the original literal meaning of gesturing in a greeting, departing, excited, or attention-seeking manner by waving the hands, as in "friendly were the hand-waving crowds. The opposite of hand-waving is sometimes called nose-following in mathematics (see § In mathematics, below). The descriptive epithet hand-waver has been applied to those engaging in hand-waving, but is not common. Superlative constructions such as "vigorous hand-waving", "waved their hand furiously", "lots of waving of hands", etc., are used to imply that the hand-waver lacks confidence in the information being conveyed, cannot convincingly express or defend the core of the argument being advanced. A more arch, mock-antiquarian construction is waving of hands. "she had one hand waving, the other on the rail", but is found in some dictionaries in this form. "Hand waving" is mostly used otherwise, e.g. Handwaving and handwave may be preferred in some circles, and are well attested. While hand-waving is the most common spelling of the unitary present participle and gerund in this usage, and hand-wave of the simple present verb, hand wave dominates as the noun-phrase form. The spelling of the compound varies (both with regard to this idiom and the everyday human communication gesture of waving). Īctual hand-waving motions may be used either by a speaker to indicate a desire to avoid going into details, or by critics to indicate that they believe the proponent of an argument is engaging in a verbal hand-wave inappropriately. This implication of misleading intent has been reinforced by the pop-culture influence of the Star Wars franchise, in which mystically powerful hand-waving is fictionally used for mind control, and some uses of the term in public discourse are explicit Star Wars references. The term also evokes the sleight-of-hand distraction techniques of stage magic, and suggests that the speaker or writer seems to believe that if they, figuratively speaking, simply wave their hands, no one will notice or speak up about the holes in the reasoning. Hand-waving is an idiomatic metaphor, derived in part from the use of excessive gesticulation, perceived as unproductive, distracting or nervous, in communication or other effort. In debate competition, certain cases of this form of hand-waving may be explicitly permitted. The term can also be used as a self-admission of, and suggestion to defer discussion about, an allegedly unimportant weakness in one's own argument's evidence, to forestall an opponent dwelling on it. The term can additionally be used in work situations, when attempts are made to display productivity or assure accountability without actually resulting in them. It is also used academically to indicate unproven claims and skipped steps in proofs (sometimes intentionally, as in lectures and instructional materials), with some specific meanings in particular fields, including literary criticism, speculative fiction, mathematics, logic, science and engineering. It is often applied to debating techniques that involve fallacies, misdirection and the glossing over of details. Hand-waving (with various spellings) is a pejorative label for attempting to be seen as effective – in word, reasoning, or deed – while actually doing nothing effective or substantial. For the everyday human gesture, see Wave (gesture). This article is about the idiomatic term.
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