Editing Hand-waving (section)

{{Short description|Term for attempting to be seen as effective}}
{{about|the idiomatic term|the everyday human gesture|Wave (gesture)}}
'''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.<ref name="Dictionary.com">{{cite web |title=hand wave |work=Dictionary.com |date=2016 |url= http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hand-waving}} Cites the ''[[Random House Dictionary]]'' and ''The Dictionary of American Slang'' 4th ed.</ref>  It is often applied to [[debating]] techniques that involve [[fallacies]], misdirection and the glossing over of details.<ref name="NHD-JF">{{cite encyclopedia |title=handwave |encyclopedia=The New Hacker's Dictionary |edition=3rd |editor1-first=Eric S.|editor1-last=Raymond|editor1-link=Eric S. Raymond |editor2-first=Guy L.|editor2-last=Steele|editor2-link=Guy L. Steele, Jr. |date=1996 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=0-262-68092-0}}  Online edition: {{cite web |title=The Jargon File |version=4.4.7 |url= http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/handwave.html <!-- archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105200416/http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/ -->}} [http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/ Homepage] mentions a ver. 4.4.8, but the text of the work says [http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/index.html 4.4.7].</ref> 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. 

The term can additionally be used in work situations, when attempts are made to display productivity or assure accountability without actually resulting in them. 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. In [[debate competition]], certain cases of this form of hand-waving may be explicitly permitted.

''Hand-waving'' is an [[idiom]]atic [[metaphor]], derived in part from the use of excessive [[gesticulation]], perceived as unproductive, distracting or nervous, in communication or other effort.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} The term also evokes the [[sleight-of-hand]] distraction techniques of [[stage magic]],<ref name="NHD-JF" /> 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.<ref name="NHD-JF" /> 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 [[Brainwashing|mind control]], and some uses of the term in public discourse are explicit ''Star Wars'' references.<ref name="CBS_Bronco">An example in the sports press of "Jedi mind trick": [http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25449738/one-bronco-thinks-roethlisbergers-injury-is-a-jedi-mind-trick One Bronco thinks Roethlisberger's injury is a 'Jedi mind trick']<nowiki />&thinsp;.</ref>

Actual hand-waving motions may be used either by a speaker to indicate a desire to avoid going into details,<ref name="Dictionary.com" /> or by critics to indicate that they believe the proponent of an argument is engaging in a verbal hand-wave inappropriately.<ref name="NHD-JF" />