In rhetorical analysis, to pooh-pooh an argument is to dismiss it as being unworthy of serious consideration. It is a fallacy in informal logic.^[1] Scholars generally characterize the fallacy as a rhetorical device in which the speaker ridicules an argument without responding to the substance of the argument.^[2] It has been characterized as a form of a straw man fallacy, where an argument is described as inherently worthless or undeserving of serious attention.^[3] Some authors have also described the fallacy as the act of "ridicul[ing]" an argument as though it were "a myth",^[4] and some characterize it as the act of dismissing an argument "with insults without responding to its substance in any way".^[2] Other authors describe the fallacy as the act of dismissing an argument "with the wave of a hand".^[5] Some sources also suggest the fallacy is an expression that involves "sneer[ing]",^[5] "ridicule",^[1] or "malicious comments about the proponent of the argument".^[2] Some authors also suggest the term originated as a "representation of the act of spitting in sign of contemptuous rejection".^[6] There is no evidence of a relationship with the slang word for feces.^{[citation needed]}