the.com/sleight of hand
The art of lying to your eyes while your hands tell the truth, badly.
means Skillful hand movements used by a magician or trickster to perform tricks or deceive onlookers without them noticing.
from From Middle English 'sleighth' or 'sleght,' meaning cunning or cleverness, itself borrowed from Old Norse 'slægð' — related to 'sly.' The 'hand' was bolted on later to specify exactly which body part was doing the cunning. So the phrase literally means 'cleverness of hand' — your fingers, officially certified sly.
- not slight
- spelled sleight, meaning cunning skill, not smallness
- real secret
- misdirection beats speed; attention is the actual target
- origin
- from old norse slaegth, meaning cleverness or trickery
- magician's rule
- the hand reveals nothing the mind hasn't already allowed