Not Waving but Drowning Not Waving but Drowning "Not Waving but Drowning" is a poem by the British poet Stevie Smith. It was published in 1957 as part of a collection of the same title. The most famous of Smith's poems, it gives an account of a drowned man whose distressed thrashing in the water had been mistaken for waving. The poem was accompanied by one of Smith's drawings, as was common in her work. The poem's personal significance has been the topic of several pieces of literary criticism because Smith was treated for psychological problems. She contemplated suicide at the age of eight
Hand-waving is engaging in a verbal hand-wave inappropriately. The spelling of the compound varies (both with regard to this idiom and the everyday human communication gesture of waving). While "hand-waving" is the most common spelling of the unitary present participle and gerund in this usage, and "hand-wave" of the simple present verb, "hand wave" dominates as the noun-phrase form. "Handwaving" and "handwave" may be preferred in some circles, and are well attested. "Hand waving" is mostly used otherwise, e.g. "she had one hand waving, the other on the rail", but is found in some dictionaries in this form. A more arch,