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Henry74 Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary
Flail
Hello,
Can flail be used to refer to hand motion only? If I keep my arms sort of in place, and I start moving my hands rapidly and erraticly because I'm a crazy person who's painting an imaginary canvas postmodern style, can I say, "I'm flailing my hands"?
Alternate possibilities?
Thank you for your help
H.
Can flail be used to refer to hand motion only? If I keep my arms sort of in place, and I start moving my hands rapidly and erraticly because I'm a crazy person who's painting an imaginary canvas postmodern style, can I say, "I'm flailing my hands"?
Alternate possibilities?
Thank you for your help
H.
Top answer
Flailing involves bigger movements than just the hands alone can do, I think. You have to think of the flail the word derives from. If you are careful to describe how the arms are stationary, you could get away with it, though.
- Flailing involves bigger movements than just the hands alone can do, I think.
- You have to think of the flail the word derives from.
- If you are careful to describe how the arms are stationary, you could get away with it, though.
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3 Answers
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Flailing involves bigger movements than just the hands alone can do, I think. You have to think of the flail the word derives from. If you are careful to describe how the arms are stationary, you could get away with it, though.
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enoonYou have to think of the flail the word derives from.Oh, I see. I missed that connection.
Supposing I don't want to get stuck into describing what my arms are doing or not doing, are there other verbs for movements of the hands?
I wouldn't want to use "waving" because my movement is more like the beating of wings, and it lacks an exact purpose.
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