New Signers' Funny Mistakes

SimplyMints · 10-23-2008, 03:53 PM

If this is in the wrong place, hopefully it can be moved without issues

I've been wondering if this kind of a thread would be interesting to anybody besides me, so I guess one way to find out is to create it and watch!

(Okay, I'm supposed to come up with one myself, so I tried to think of one that would be funny that I haven't told before, but I can't. So I'll tell you one that my sister and I laugh about all the time. So, after like 10 years of not using ASL, my sister decided to try to learn it again, and she was trying to sign from what she remembered. She tried to sign "remember," but signed the sign perfectly backwards, like if you took a video of somebody signing "remember" and played it backwards. I don't know if it means anything, but we just laugh about that all the time.)

Hear Again · 10-23-2008, 04:19 PM

While reviewing my weekly signs, my sign language instructor asked me to show her how to sign "work." Once I did, she immediately started laughing (which I wasn't offended by since we always found something to laugh about during my lessons) and told me I had signed "f***" instead of "work." I was so embarrassed!

Needless to say, I never made that mistake again.

psych21 · 10-24-2008, 06:59 PM

That's pretty funny Hear Again. I myself would have died infront of the instructor, but that's cool that they are relaxed enough not to get mad or anything.

Hear Again · 10-24-2008, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by psych21

That's pretty funny Hear Again. I myself would have died infront of the instructor, but that's cool that they are relaxed enough not to get mad or anything.

psych21,

My sign language instructor was awesome -- very laid back with an excellent sense of humor. If it had been any other instructor, I would have died of embarrassment and wished that the floor would have opened up underneath me.

lsfoster · 10-24-2008, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hear Again

While reviewing my weekly signs, my sign language instructor asked me to show her how to sign "work." Once I did, she immediately started laughing (which I wasn't offended by since we always found something to laugh about during my lessons) and told me I had signed "f***" instead of "work." I was so embarrassed!

Needless to say, I never made that mistake again.

Well, depending on what someone's job is, they could be the same..... I guess....

Hear Again · 10-24-2008, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lsfoster

Well, depending on what someone's job is, they could be the same..... I guess....

Ummm...

David · 10-25-2008, 02:34 AM

My ASL is not as good as it should be. I was recently on VP with a rather attractive female friend of mine. We somehow got on the subject of her moving to the vicinity of my home. Now, I meant to tell her, in ASL, "If you move here, I will visit you a lot." However, I used the wrong sign for "visit". I thought "visit" was the two "V"s meeting each other, as if "V" is visiting "V". I didn't realize until later that this is the sign for "f**k". So, really, what I said to her was, "If you move here, I will f**k you a lot." The expression on her face was priceless, but my embarrassment and humiliation will last a lifetime.

SimplyMints · 10-25-2008, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

My ASL is not as good as it should be. I was recently on VP with a rather attractive female friend of mine. We somehow got on the subject of her moving to the vicinity of my home. Now, I meant to tell her, in ASL, "If you move here, I will visit you a lot." However, I used the wrong sign for "visit". I thought "visit" was the two "V"s meeting each other, as if "V" is visiting "V". I didn't realize until later that this is the sign for "f**k". So, really, what I said to her was, "If you move here, I will f**k you a lot." The expression on her face was priceless, but my embarrassment and humiliation will last a lifetime.

Wow, that sounds an awful lot like the SEE sign for "very" .. or at least the one my family uses .. unless I've wrongly learned f***ing as meaning very, which in English slang, it can =s How many signs for f*** are there? I better just skip that word from now on and just intensify the sign for what the subject is very! Uh, I donno how to say what I just tried to say =s

Hear Again · 10-25-2008, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimplyMints

How many signs for f*** are there?

After reading David's post, I'm wondering the same thing.

Munchkinsdad · 10-25-2008, 09:47 AM

there was a guy i knew who was learning sign and we met some friends who were experienced in sign. Well we exchanged names and one of the women said her sign name was the letter "p" on her cheek.
Well later on this guy was trying to remember her sign name and put the "p" on his nose. That was funny!

SimplyMints · 10-27-2008, 01:04 AM

My sister is still learning to sign, but she's doing really well. Tonight, we were signing, and suddenly out of the blue, totally out of character for her, she suddenly says, "I'm a good tit."

I fingerspelled back to her what she said, and we both laughed a lot, but I never did find out what she was trying to say

loldrey · 10-28-2008, 10:05 PM

I'm in culinary school, and in our restaurant we have a deaf waiter. He has an interpreter but a lot of times she's not around or whatever. There's this woman who always eats in the restaurant and always orders sweet tea, except she usually doesn't have him as her waiter. So on this particular day, when she was trying to order tea, she made the sign for the letter T, and shook it. The look on the waiter's face was pretty hilarious. I signed to him the correct order behind the woman's back, but I never told her she signed wrong, so now every time she orders "toilet", the waiter and I have a good laugh.

SimplyMints · 10-28-2008, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loldrey

I'm in culinary school, and in our restaurant we have a deaf waiter. He has an interpreter but a lot of times she's not around or whatever. There's this woman who always eats in the restaurant and always orders sweet tea, except she usually doesn't have him as her waiter. So on this particular day, when she was trying to order tea, she made the sign for the letter T, and shook it. The look on the waiter's face was pretty hilarious. I signed to him the correct order behind the woman's back, but I never told her she signed wrong, so now every time she orders "toilet", the waiter and I have a good laugh.

I can't stop laughing

Hear Again · 10-28-2008, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loldrey

I'm in culinary school, and in our restaurant we have a deaf waiter. He has an interpreter but a lot of times she's not around or whatever. There's this woman who always eats in the restaurant and always orders sweet tea, except she usually doesn't have him as her waiter. So on this particular day, when she was trying to order tea, she made the sign for the letter T, and shook it. The look on the waiter's face was pretty hilarious. I signed to him the correct order behind the woman's back, but I never told her she signed wrong, so now every time she orders "toilet", the waiter and I have a good laugh.

Casperman · 10-28-2008, 10:48 PM

my parents taught a old neighbor asl and she was our church interpreter back in 70s... now she is one of top interpreters in ky.. anyway she was trying to sign Jesus die on cross but she signed Jesus Bet on cross my dad laughed but he kept to himself and she was wondering why my dad laughed then after church my mom corrected her and she became embarrassed.. and accept critic and changes from deaf people and now she is RIT certificated interpreter

lsfoster · 10-29-2008, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Munchkinsdad

there was a guy i knew who was learning sign and we met some friends who were experienced in sign. Well we exchanged names and one of the women said her sign name was the letter "p" on her cheek.
Well later on this guy was trying to remember her sign name and put the "p" on his nose. That was funny!

Okay, I'll be the lame asl student who doesn't get it. What's a 'p' on the nose mean?

Hear Again · 10-29-2008, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lsfoster

Okay, I'll be the lame asl student who doesn't get it. What's a 'p' on the nose mean?

If a person touches their nose with the letter "P" while puffing out their cheeks, it means "urinate."

If a person touches their nose with the letter "P" (without puffing out their cheeks) or touches their nose with the letter "P" while making a bouncing motion, it means a part of the male anatomy.

lsfoster · 10-29-2008, 10:38 AM

I wonder why they don't teach us that in class. What part of the 'p' touches the nose? (just for future reference

)

Hear Again · 10-29-2008, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lsfoster

I wonder why they don't teach us that in class. What part of the 'p' touches the nose? (just for future reference

)

The tip of the middle finger touches the tip of the nose (with the letter "P" facing you).

I almost forgot...another sign for "urinate" is made by taking the index finger and holding it upright, then pointing it down and forward while you puff out your cheeks.

JennyB · 10-29-2008, 11:33 AM

I have SO many of these stories it is not even funny...often with me I know the signs, I just get caught up and sloppy lol.

About two weeks ago I asked one of my interpreters if she wanted a pen. I definitely actually asked her if she wanted a penis.

Once my grandpa was mocking sign language and waving his hands around like a ninny to try to convey this. He called me an asshole in the process and I pointed this out to the entire family.

My friend who is learning ASL wanted to ask me if I wanted a drink, instead she asked me if I wanted to get drunk. I topped that one off by saying in spoken English, "No - I do not want to get drunk" in a fairly quiet crowded room. She'll never do that again though...

There are more but I don't have time!

AlleyCat · 10-30-2008, 01:17 PM

This just happened last night !!! The whole thing with the f*** word ... I was out with deaf and hearing friends last night. My deaf friend was signing to some of our hearing friends about his "work" and they were trying to duplicate his sign, but it came out as f***. Funny !!!

***Jolie77*** · 10-30-2008, 08:07 PM

YouTube - ASL person sign wrong... what you do

I thought this video was an interesting piece.

Hear Again - In the video, To summarize what the guy said in the video - He is basically asking "How do we approach a new signer?" For instance, If a new signer signs a "wrong" sign without actually knowing that it is the "wrong" sign, Do we leave them alone and let them learn the mistakes on their own or do we respond with the correct sign in order for the new signer to learn their mistakes?

Hear Again · 10-30-2008, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolie77

YouTube - ASL person sign wrong... what you do

I thought this video was an interesting piece.

Hear Again - In the video, To summarize what the guy said in the video - He is basically asking "How do we approach a new signer?" For instance, If a new signer signs a "wrong" sign without actually knowing that it is the "wrong" sign, Do we leave them alone and let them learn the mistakes on their own or do we respond with the correct sign in order for the new signer to learn their mistakes?

Jolie,

Thanks for the description of the video.

What is his opinion? Does he think new signers should be corrected on their mistakes?

I'm of the opinion that they should. The longer a new signer continues to make mistakes, the harder those mistakes are to correct.

Bottesini · 10-30-2008, 11:30 PM

Here is one from my husband he did tonight. In a group he was trying to tell everyone about how I am going to get a crown on my broken tooth next Tuesday, but he got a little over excited on the sign "Tuesday" so everyone was laughing pretty hard as it looked like he was communicating that I would get my tooth repaired in the bathroom!

Hear Again · 10-30-2008, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bottesini

Here is one from my husband he did tonight. In a group he was trying to tell everyone about how I am going to get a crown on my broken tooth next Tuesday, but he got a little over excited on the sign "Tuesday" so everyone was laughing pretty hard as it looked like he was communicating that I would get my tooth repaired in the bathroom!

***Jolie77*** · 10-31-2008, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hear Again

Jolie,

Thanks for the description of the video.

What is his opinion? Does he think new signers should be corrected on their mistakes?

I'm of the opinion that they should. The longer a new signer continues to make mistakes, the harder those mistakes are to correct.

You're welcome, Hear Again.

The guy in the video stated that he would be there to correct the new signer's mistakes in a nice approach.

As for myself, I certainly would correct them and show them the right sign because in the long run, it would save them a lot of embarrassment.

Hear Again · 10-31-2008, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolie77

You're welcome, Hear Again.

The guy in the video stated that he would be there to correct the new signer's mistakes in a nice approach.

As for myself, I certainly would correct them and show them the right sign because in the long run, it would save them a lot of embarrassment.

Good point, Jolie.

You may remember my post above in which I said that I accidentally signed f*** instead of "work." If my sign language instructor didn't correct me on that mistake, it would have caused me a great deal of embarrassment.

I'm just thankful she brought that mistake to my attention.

***Jolie77*** · 10-31-2008, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hear Again

Good point, Jolie.

You may remember my post above in which I said that I accidentally signed f*** instead of "work." If my sign language instructor didn't correct me on that mistake, it would have caused me a great deal of embarrassment.

I'm just thankful she brought that mistake to my attention.

Precisely.

It's funny because my mom kept repeatedly signed "vacuum" as in "fucking backwards". I could not stop laughing at what she was saying. She was perplexed and said "What did I say?" I said "Mom, You're signing doggy style". Boy, She was really beet red in the face! So, now to this date, She knows how to sign "vacuum" correctly.

Hear Again · 10-31-2008, 01:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolie77

Precisely.

It's funny because my mom kept repeatedly signed "vacuum" as in "fucking backwards". I could not stop laughing at what she was saying. She was perplexed and said "What did I say?" I said "Mom, You're signing doggy style". Boy, She was really beet red in the face! So, now to this date, She knows how to sign "vacuum" correctly.

That's hilarious, Jolie!

JennyB · 11-01-2008, 02:06 AM

Tonight I was out and a hearing person who was trying to make a nice gesture and sign "happy halloween" accidently signed "happy slut" to me and several of my deaf friends. It was fairly hilarious. We corrected her and we all laughed pretty hard.

10-23-2008, 03:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
SimplyMints I love all my ponies! Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Eastern Oregon, USA Posts: 1,183 Blog Entries: 1	New Signers' Funny Mistakes If this is in the wrong place, hopefully it can be moved without issues I've been wondering if this kind of a thread would be interesting to anybody besides me, so I guess one way to find out is to create it and watch! (Okay, I'm supposed to come up with one myself, so I tried to think of one that would be funny that I haven't told before, but I can't. So I'll tell you one that my sister and I laugh about all the time. So, after like 10 years of not using ASL, my sister decided to try to learn it again, and she was trying to sign from what she remembered. She tried to sign "remember," but signed the sign perfectly backwards, like if you took a video of somebody signing "remember" and played it backwards. I don't know if it means anything, but we just laugh about that all the time.) __________________ "A world that is not on the verge of annihilation can still be perfectly stimulating, and definitely not boring." - Andrea Berlinghoff "Thanks to all my friends, I've learned that being different also makes me special. Besides, the only way to truly shine is to be yourself." - Lily Lightly

10-23-2008, 04:19 PM	#2 (permalink)
Hear Again Each day is a gift. Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 20,073 Blog Entries: 6	While reviewing my weekly signs, my sign language instructor asked me to show her how to sign "work." Once I did, she immediately started laughing (which I wasn't offended by since we always found something to laugh about during my lessons) and told me I had signed "f*" instead of "work." I was so embarrassed! Needless to say, I never made that mistake again. __________________ Left ear - Nucleus 24 Contour Advance with Freedom BTE (Implanted: 12/22/04 \| Activated: 1/18/05) Right ear - Nucleus Freedom (Implanted: 2/1/06 \| Activated: 3/1/06) Deafblind/Postlingual**

10-24-2008, 06:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
psych21 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: CA. Posts: 26	That's pretty funny Hear Again. I myself would have died infront of the instructor, but that's cool that they are relaxed enough not to get mad or anything. __________________

10-27-2008, 01:04 AM	#11 (permalink)
SimplyMints I love all my ponies! Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Eastern Oregon, USA Posts: 1,183 Blog Entries: 1	My sister is still learning to sign, but she's doing really well. Tonight, we were signing, and suddenly out of the blue, totally out of character for her, she suddenly says, "I'm a good tit." I fingerspelled back to her what she said, and we both laughed a lot, but I never did find out what she was trying to say __________________ "A world that is not on the verge of annihilation can still be perfectly stimulating, and definitely not boring." - Andrea Berlinghoff "Thanks to all my friends, I've learned that being different also makes me special. Besides, the only way to truly shine is to be yourself." - Lily Lightly

10-28-2008, 10:48 PM	#15 (permalink)
Casperman Proud Dada of an Autistic Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: state of fast horses, fast ladies and hillbilly drunkards Posts: 433	my parents taught a old neighbor asl and she was our church interpreter back in 70s... now she is one of top interpreters in ky.. anyway she was trying to sign Jesus die on cross but she signed Jesus Bet on cross my dad laughed but he kept to himself and she was wondering why my dad laughed then after church my mom corrected her and she became embarrassed.. and accept critic and changes from deaf people and now she is RIT certificated interpreter __________________

Today
Deafness	Sponsored Links __________________ This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members. Register your free account today and become a member on AllDeaf.com

10-25-2008, 02:34 AM	#7 (permalink)
David Banned Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 853	My ASL is not as good as it should be. I was recently on VP with a rather attractive female friend of mine. We somehow got on the subject of her moving to the vicinity of my home. Now, I meant to tell her, in ASL, "If you move here, I will visit you a lot." However, I used the wrong sign for "visit". I thought "visit" was the two "V"s meeting each other, as if "V" is visiting "V". I didn't realize until later that this is the sign for "fk". So, really, what I said to her was, "If you move here, I will fk you a lot." The expression on her face was priceless, but my embarrassment and humiliation will last a lifetime.

10-25-2008, 09:47 AM	#10 (permalink)
Munchkinsdad Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Maryland Posts: 18	there was a guy i knew who was learning sign and we met some friends who were experienced in sign. Well we exchanged names and one of the women said her sign name was the letter "p" on her cheek. Well later on this guy was trying to remember her sign name and put the "p" on his nose. That was funny!

10-28-2008, 10:05 PM	#12 (permalink)
loldrey Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 17	I'm in culinary school, and in our restaurant we have a deaf waiter. He has an interpreter but a lot of times she's not around or whatever. There's this woman who always eats in the restaurant and always orders sweet tea, except she usually doesn't have him as her waiter. So on this particular day, when she was trying to order tea, she made the sign for the letter T, and shook it. The look on the waiter's face was pretty hilarious. I signed to him the correct order behind the woman's back, but I never told her she signed wrong, so now every time she orders "toilet", the waiter and I have a good laugh.

10-29-2008, 10:38 AM	#18 (permalink)
lsfoster Some kind of awesome... Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Boston Posts: 432	I wonder why they don't teach us that in class. What part of the 'p' touches the nose? (just for future reference ) __________________ "Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."

10-29-2008, 11:33 AM	#20 (permalink)
JennyB Deaf Activist! Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 784	I have SO many of these stories it is not even funny...often with me I know the signs, I just get caught up and sloppy lol. About two weeks ago I asked one of my interpreters if she wanted a pen. I definitely actually asked her if she wanted a penis. Once my grandpa was mocking sign language and waving his hands around like a ninny to try to convey this. He called me an asshole in the process and I pointed this out to the entire family. My friend who is learning ASL wanted to ask me if I wanted a drink, instead she asked me if I wanted to get drunk. I topped that one off by saying in spoken English, "No - I do not want to get drunk" in a fairly quiet crowded room. She'll never do that again though... There are more but I don't have time! __________________ Queer, Deaf, radical disability theorist, feminist, activist, advocate, and linguist. Fear me! Jenny~B http://journysofadeafgirl.blogspot.com/

10-30-2008, 01:17 PM	#21 (permalink)
AlleyCat Chicken in a Cat Suit Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 2,736	This just happened last night !!! The whole thing with the f* word ... I was out with deaf and hearing friends last night. My deaf friend was signing to some of our hearing friends about his "work" and they were trying to duplicate his sign, but it came out as f*. Funny !!!

10-30-2008, 11:30 PM	#24 (permalink)
Bottesini Bodhar agus leath dall Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Middle of dog pack Posts: 16,083	Here is one from my husband he did tonight. In a group he was trying to tell everyone about how I am going to get a crown on my broken tooth next Tuesday, but he got a little over excited on the sign "Tuesday" so everyone was laughing pretty hard as it looked like he was communicating that I would get my tooth repaired in the bathroom! __________________ It's a joke Nathan!

11-01-2008, 02:06 AM	#30 (permalink)
JennyB Deaf Activist! Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 784	Tonight I was out and a hearing person who was trying to make a nice gesture and sign "happy halloween" accidently signed "happy slut" to me and several of my deaf friends. It was fairly hilarious. We corrected her and we all laughed pretty hard. __________________ Queer, Deaf, radical disability theorist, feminist, activist, advocate, and linguist. Fear me! Jenny~B http://journysofadeafgirl.blogspot.com/

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