Dictionary

hairy arm en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (slang) A purposeful flaw or obvious mistake introduced, usually to a graphic design, in order to bait or divert the attention of a boss or client who might otherwise focus on harder-to-fix or less trivial mistakes.
   • "You should always put a hairy arm into every project you work on, to give the client something to change. Of course, you've got to make the arm dumb enough." 2000, Lawrence San, “inSANity by San: The Hairy Arm”, in 1099, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2025:
   • […]is the hairy-arm story. This apocryphal tale has many versions in many industries, but they're all about the same thing - managing those who have power over you by leaving errors in your work. The first print version appeared in a blog[…] 2013, Wendy Laura Belcher, Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks, Second Edition: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success, University of Chicago Press, page 356:
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hairy, arm.
   • My brother has hairy arms.

Forms

Relateds

red herring · sandbagging · Atwood's duck · duck · decoy · yak shaving