Recently, I heard the expression "hand waving," as in "How was the speech?" "Oh, it was a lot of hand waving," meaning a lot of empty rhetoric or hot air.
Along with this one is the expression "foot stamping," used to mean that the speaker was most emphatic in conveying his/her empty thoughts to the audience.
I had never heard either of these expressions used to mean anything but their literal meanings and was surprised to find this definition in the AHD:
quote:
NOUN: Usually insubstantial words or actions intended to convince or impress: resorted to hand waving instead of arguing rationally.
Has anyone else ever heard or used these phrases in this way?
Wordmatic
Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Since most of what I say is in this category, it seems a common expression. However, I have recently used these expressions less. Now, when someone passes gas, I say, "Running for office?"
I suspect the expression you've inquired about goes back at least to Shekespeare's day. "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Yes, but I had never heard either expression used in that way in my life--yet several others in this other discussion had. They were all men who worked in business or engineering, except for one, who was a philosophy professor! Possibly I just never "got it" when hearing these expressions used in this manner, or maybe they are more common in some regions than in others.
WM
Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Foot stomping to me can either mean you're angry and stomp away. Or it can mean you're excited, such as stomping your feet at a sports game. Hand waving? Well I haven't heard it used except when someone is waving his/her hands.
I heard hand-waving used metaphorically quite often in a software engineering environment, as in 'his approach is nothing more than a lot of hand-waving'. –noun insubstantial words, arguments, gestures, or actions used in an attempt to explain or persuade. [Random House Dict. 2009]
Originally posted by wordmatic: ...They were all men who worked in business or engineering..
That may be key, Wordmatic. I worked in the paper-pushing end of an engineering firm during the '70' & '80's. My nerdy colleagues were forever circulating tongue-in-cheek expressions for the fatuosity of management. Alas I wish I had kept a journal, memory fails. My bf (now husband) & I were both fairly good at cartooning & used to while away our time depicting, Dilbert-style, organization charts with 4-way stops and cul-de-sacs, bean-counters, dog-&-pony shows, etc etc.
Posts: 2605 | Location: As they say at 101.5FM: Not New York... Not Philadelphia... PROUD TO BE NEW JERSEY!
