How do you sign...

kellycat said:
No, it isn't a language issue of me not understanding, but someone saying something that doesn't really make sense. This is an awful example, but may make it clear. I told a co-worker that I was donating/selling plasma. He singed to me "Are you Indian?" I totally understood what he signed but had NO idea what that question was supposed to mean. (Apparently, according to him, people in India readily sell their kidneys and such.).

So I was looking for a way to indicate that I totally understood the WORDS he used, just not what the heck he was talking about.

I will just default to the natural "what the heck are you talking about" look, maybe signing "point-what?" or "mean-what?"
Click to expand...
If you understood his question to be, "Are you Indian?" just sign back "yes" or "no" (whatever fits you). If he has more to say about that, or a follow-up question, then let it happen.

If it's the co-workers' reason for asking rather than the question itself that you are puzzled about, you can always add "why" to your reply.

So, how did you respond in that situation, and how did your co-worker follow thru?
 
That's an old rule, actually. If a term becomes a part of pop culture, it revolves and has a sign/signs for it.

Hence, Facebook, MySpace, and iTunes.

I've seen some signs being thrown around but I'm curious what regional signs have been used for it.

:cool:
 
deafbajagal said:
That's an old rule, actually. If a term becomes a part of pop culture, it revolves and has a sign/signs for it.

Hence, Facebook, MySpace, and iTunes.

I've seen some signs being thrown around but I'm curious what regional signs have been used for it.

:cool:
Click to expand...
Is it part of pop culture? I didn't know that. I never heard of Pinterest before, so I looked it up.

The rule still holds. However, like you said, if it becomes popular enough to the general community to get a name sign, then that's what should be used.

I didn't know it was that popular. :lol:
 
deafbajagal said:
That's an old rule, actually. If a term becomes a part of pop culture, it revolves and has a sign/signs for it.

Hence, Facebook, MySpace, and iTunes.

I've seen some signs being thrown around but I'm curious what regional signs have been used for it.

:cool:
Click to expand...

We need to come up with a sign for it! :D
 
If I am signing something to the effect of "This is a sample of the tile that will be our floors and for the whole bathroom." I know most of what I need, but bathroom is stumping me. Everywhere I look, I see the sign for toilet or restroom. You know, the shaking "T" or "R". Is there a better sign for the "bathroom"?
 
KristinaB said:
If I am signing something to the effect of "This is a sample of the tile that will be our floors and for the whole bathroom." I know most of what I need, but bathroom is stumping me. Everywhere I look, I see the sign for toilet or restroom. You know, the shaking "T" or "R". Is there a better sign for the "bathroom"?
Click to expand...

"bath" + "room" ... not sure if that is 'better' or not but it is an alternative.
 
Journey said:
"bath" + "room" ... not sure if that is 'better' or not but it is an alternative.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I will try that in the morning. I am taking the floor sample tile and all the building plans and surverys to church in the morning. A few people want to see them.
 
I've seen only the "T" and "R-R" for BATHROOM/RESTROOM used.
 
Reba said:
I've seen only the "T" and "R-R" for BATHROOM/RESTROOM used.
Click to expand...

"bath" + "room" is old-formal (a wash house vs an outhouse). Other than that, the 'a' hand with the thumbnail on the chin then stroked down twice, is used a fair bit around here.
 
Journey said:
"bath" + "room" is old-formal (a wash house vs an outhouse). Other than that, the 'a' hand with the thumbnail on the chin then stroked down twice, is used a fair bit around here.
Click to expand...
That must be regional. I've never seen that used here by the deaf community.
 
Reba said:
That must be regional. I've never seen that used here by the deaf community.
Click to expand...

Ah could be :). It's always interesting to see how many different signs there are for the most important things ... like a bathroom and Starbucks haha.
 
Well - I did the bath + room and they told me that I should just use the "T". They did understand though.

they also like my choice in tile and all the paint color choices.
 
KristinaB said:
Well - I did the bath + room and they told me that I should just use the "T". They did understand though.

they also like my choice in tile and all the paint color choices.
Click to expand...

Good stuff Kristina - a win/win situation. You were understood, you learned the preferred sign for 'bathroom' and you received positive feedback about your decor choices ... oh wait, I guess that makes it a win/win/win situation :lol:.
 
Reba said:
If you understood his question to be, "Are you Indian?" just sign back "yes" or "no" (whatever fits you). If he has more to say about that, or a follow-up question, then let it happen.

If it's the co-workers' reason for asking rather than the question itself that you are puzzled about, you can always add "why" to your reply.

So, how did you respond in that situation, and how did your co-worker follow thru?
Click to expand...

I gave him a strange sideways "What the heck?" look while signing "no". Then he explained that people in India sell their organs. It was just the most immediate example I could think of. I knew that there had to be SOME reason he was connecting my sale of plasma to being Indian, just wasn't sure what on earth that could be.
 
How would you sign "treatment" as in a medical "treatment program" or during your "treatment" you will experience a,b or c?
 
I have a couple questions from communication issues that came up recently with my deaf friend. I think partly my sense of humour just does not translate well, but anyway.

In the sign club we're doing, my darling son is the class clown. Actually, he's the class clown everywhere, but my friend has only seen him at class. The rest of the class is always laughing at him, and I am always signing to him "Pay attention," and "Behave!". I tried to tell her once that he was the class clown. Now she keeps asking me where he goes to school to learn to be a clown and I don't think she's being funny. Is there some other way to communicate that my 13 year old son just turns everything into a joke and loves to make people laugh? Or maybe she is being funny and I don't get it.

This last Sunday, we were signing, and there was quite a bit of distance between us so it wasn't obvious that we were talking to each other. A friend (and a member of our little sign lnaguage club) stepped between us, completely blocking our view. I was teasing him, and I waved him away and pretended to rebuke him. My friend laughed at that and teased me that I wasn't nice to him at all.

I said I was old, so I was just acting like his mother. That didn't communicate well at all. She wanted to know where his mother is, what does his mother act like, where did she live- and she just seemed to fixate on his mom, and kept asking me what I meant. In the end, I just said I was trying to joke, but I guess it wasn't very funny, but she still seemed confused.

Any ideas? Ideas other than that I should not ever try to be funny in sign language again, because I've already figured that part out.
 
Journey said:
How would you sign "treatment" as in a medical "treatment program" or during your "treatment" you will experience a,b or c?
Click to expand...

You could call it a medical program.

Other words to use: drug, therapy, cure, process, step by step, ect...

You have to go to the concept of what you want to say... You are thinking of calling it "treatment" instead of thinking of the concept. What does it mean? What are you trying to convey. there is no 1 right answer.
 
Back
Top