Handwave

2 definitions found

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  handwave [poss. from gestures characteristic of stage magicians] 1. v.
     To gloss over a complex point; to distract a listener; to support a
     (possibly actually valid) point with blatantly faulty logic. 2. n. The
     act of handwaving. "Boy, what a handwave!"
  
     If someone starts a sentence with "Clearly..." or "Obviously..." or


     "It is self-evident that...", it is a good bet he is about to handwave
     (alternatively, use of these constructions in a sarcastic tone before a
     paraphrase of someone else's argument suggests that it is a handwave).
     The theory behind this term is that if you wave your hands at the right
     moment, the listener may be sufficiently distracted to not notice that
     what you have said is {bogus}. Failing that, if a listener does object,
     you might try to dismiss the objection with a wave of your hand.
  
     The use of this word is often accompanied by gestures: both hands up,
     palms forward, swinging the hands in a vertical plane pivoting at the
     elbows and/or shoulders (depending on the magnitude of the handwave);
     alternatively, holding the forearms in one position while rotating the
     hands at the wrist to make them flutter. In context, the gestures alone
     can suffice as a remark; if a speaker makes an outrageously unsupported
     assumption, you might simply wave your hands in this way, as an
     accusation, far more eloquent than words could express, that his logic
     is faulty.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  handwave
       
          [possibly from gestures characteristic of stage magicians] To
          gloss over a complex point; to distract a listener; to support
          a (possibly actually valid) point with blatantly faulty logic.
       
          If someone starts a sentence with "Clearly..." or
          "Obviously..." or "It is self-evident that...", it is a good
          bet he is about to handwave (alternatively, use of these
          constructions in a sarcastic tone before a paraphrase of
          someone else's argument suggests that it is a handwave).  The
          theory behind this term is that if you wave your hands at the
          right moment, the listener may be sufficiently distracted to
          not notice that what you have said is wrong.  Failing that, if
          a listener does object, you might try to dismiss the objection
          with a wave of your hand.
       
          The use of this word is often accompanied by gestures: both
          hands up, palms forward, swinging the hands in a vertical
          plane pivoting at the elbows and/or shoulders (depending on
          the magnitude of the handwave); alternatively, holding the
          forearms in one position while rotating the hands at the wrist
          to make them flutter.  In context, the gestures alone can
          suffice as a remark; if a speaker makes an outrageously
          unsupported assumption, you might simply wave your hands in
          this way, as an accusation, far more eloquent than words could
          express, that his logic is faulty.
       
          [{Jargon File}]