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
Waving a dead chicken (over it) Waving a dead chicken (over it) Waving a dead chicken (over it) is an informal phrase used to describe a known (or suspected) useless procedure to remedy any software and/or hardware issue. This may or may not imply that an actual remedy exists, and if so, that that remedy had been attempted beforehand. The procedure may be a last ditch effort to resolve a situation, and/or possibly simply to satisfy those who refuse to accept defeat. The term may be derived from the Jewish traditional custom of Kapparot, in which a live chicken is swung over one's head as a