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ILE Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

I've been handwaving in explaining how to arrive to that conclusion. If you need a more rigorous working, I'll do it in another post.

I've been handwaving in explaining how to arrive to that conclusion. If you need a more rigorous working, I'll do it in another post.

Hi native speakers,

Do you think 'handwaving' means something that is not good, vague and also equivocal?

Thanks.

Isabelle
  

Top answer

It means that he does not know how to explain it clearly enough for someone else to understand. Handwaving is saying unconvincing words, gesturing, and doing other actions unsuccessfully attempting to explain something.

— AlpheccaStars

  • It means that he does not know how to explain it clearly enough for someone else to understand.
  • Handwaving is saying unconvincing words, gesturing, and doing other actions unsuccessfully attempting to explain something.
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2 Answers
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It means that he does not know how to explain it clearly enough for someone else to understand.

Handwaving is saying unconvincing words, gesturing, and doing other actions unsuccessfully attempting to explain something.
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Oh OK. Thanks, AlpheccaStars.

Frankly, I've been using that sentence or something similar(of course with the inclusion of the word 'handwaving') as the final line in quite a few discussions in a math forum. (Yes, those words are written by me.)

I thought those questions were easy and that's why I totally believed that by handwaving I can get them solved in a clear and simple
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