Not Waving but Drowning Not Drowning, Waving takes their name from the poem. The underground '90s emo-hardcore act I Hate Myself recorded a song with the same name on their album 10 Songs. A track on Julian Cope's 1991 album "Peggy Suicide" was titled "Not Raving but Drowning" after the poem. The poem was also set to music by singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt on his debut album Little with a spoken introduction from a Stevie Smith recording. Singer and songwriter Tanita Tikaram set the poem to music in her song titled "Not Waving but Drowning" which appeared as a b-side to her single "I Might
Hand-waving waving the hands, as in "friendly were the hand-waving crowds ..." (— Sinclair Lewis), which dates to the mid-17th century as a hyphenated verb and the early 19th century United States as a fully compounded verb. It is unclear when the figurative usage arose. The "Oxford Dictionary of English" lists it as "extended use", and it appears primarily in modern American dictionaries, some of which label it "informal". Handwaving is frequently used in low-quality debate, including political campaigning and commentary, issue-based advocacy, advertising and public relations, tabloid journalism, opinion pieces, Internet memes, and informal discussion and writing. If the opponent