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23 lines
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>handwave</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../H.html" title="H"/><link rel="previous" href="handshaking.html" title="handshaking"/><link rel="next" href="hang.html" title="hang"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">handwave</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="handshaking.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">H</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="hang.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="handwave"/><dt xmlns="" id="handwave"><b>handwave</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/hand<6E>wayv/</span></dt></dt><dd><p>[poss. from gestures characteristic of stage magicians]</p></dd><dd><p> 1. <span class="grammar">v.</span> To gloss over a complex
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point; to distract a listener; to support a (possibly actually valid) point
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with blatantly faulty logic. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. <span class="grammar">n.</span> The act of handwaving.
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“<span class="quote">Boy, what a handwave!</span>”</p></dd><dd><p>If someone starts a sentence with “<span class="quote">Clearly...</span>” or
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“<span class="quote">Obviously...</span>” or “<span class="quote">It is self-evident
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that...</span>”, it is a good bet he is about to handwave
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(alternatively, use of these constructions in a sarcastic tone before a
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paraphrase of someone else's argument suggests that it is a handwave). The
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theory behind this term is that if you wave your hands at the right moment,
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the listener may be sufficiently distracted to not notice that what you
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have said is <a href="../B/bogus.html"><i class="glossterm">bogus</i></a>. Failing that, if a listener
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does object, you might try to dismiss the objection with a wave of your
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hand.</p><p>The use of this word is often accompanied by gestures: both hands up,
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palms forward, swinging the hands in a vertical plane pivoting at the
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elbows and/or shoulders (depending on the magnitude of the handwave);
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alternatively, holding the forearms in one position while rotating the
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hands at the wrist to make them flutter. In context, the gestures alone
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can suffice as a remark; if a speaker makes an outrageously unsupported
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assumption, you might simply wave your hands in this way, as an accusation,
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far more eloquent than words could express, that his logic is
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faulty.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="handshaking.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../H.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="hang.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">handshaking<EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>hang</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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