Hand signs beyond standard ASL

August 23, 2020 9:52 AM

@thefamilyvocab is an Instagram account showing new hand signs such as creep, Pippi Longstocking, Black Lives Matter, Mermaid, unicorn, Zoom, Star Trek, corona virus.
posted by Foci for Analysis (13 comments total)

Is “creep” a mustache and goatee?! Hahaha!
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 9:56 AM on August 23, 2020

These are so interesting. I don't know any sign languages, just the alphabet and a handful of words in ASL - but I'd love to know more about the etymology of some of these. I'd also love to know what's happening in the world that a character first published in 1945 is now needing a new sign.
posted by solotoro at 10:28 AM on August 23, 2020

I don't know how I feel about the idea that the signs are"beyond standard ASL". ASL is a language, just like spoken languages. Languages evolve.
posted by hoyland at 10:36 AM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

I think it's "beyond" in the sense that they're in addition to what you would find in standard ASL, not that they're too advanced for the likes of ASL or something.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 10:47 AM on August 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

A missed opportunity here for "creep", based on a confessional with Christy Smith, the deaf contestant on Survivor Amazon, who was describing another contestant as "creepy": link
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:09 AM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

It seems like some of the signs have also originated in other countries, so it's more like regional (or even community-specific) adaptations of standard ASL. Interesting stuff!

Here's a short article on how ASL incorporates new words.
posted by fight or flight at 11:09 AM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

I don't get the Star Trek one, but feel that they're really missed a trick by not making it Spock's hand thingy.
posted by JHarris at 1:00 PM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

I don't get the Star Trek one, but feel that they're really missed a trick by not making it Spock's hand thingy.


I'm unclear on that myself, is the cup-holding gesture Seago makes in the first of the Star Trek posts meant to be the symbol? Or is it the Vulcan salute he makes in the second?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:17 PM on August 23, 2020

I think the Star Trek one is the Enterprise rushing across deep space.

The COVID one seems to represent the crown (corona) around the core.
posted by doctornemo at 11:35 AM on August 24, 2020

That looks like Deaf sound artist Christine Sun Kim signing 'creep'. One of my early inspirations, she was part of a team developing ASL for Fine Art (appears to have disappeared from the net). Also an inspiration, the Scottish BSL project focusing on astronomy. Black hole is just awesome. Inspiration enough to set out to develop a terminology for teaching Design in South African Sign Language. A selection of rough drafts here, a collab between the De La Bat school and the Dominican school for Deaf Children (who I'm with). My favorite: deconstructivism.
posted by BrStekker at 1:00 PM on August 24, 2020 [2 favorites]

... but feel that they're really missed a trick by not making it Spock's hand thingy.

I think that would be Spock.
posted by BrStekker at 1:21 PM on August 24, 2020

Pippi Longstocking is simultaneously 1945 and forever.
posted by away for regrooving at 1:28 AM on August 27, 2020

I'm unclear on that myself, is the cup-holding gesture Seago makes in the first of the Star Trek posts meant to be the symbol? Or is it the Vulcan salute he makes in the second?

According to the post, he's sharing "his two favourite signs of Star Trek" - so it's two different variations.
posted by Glier's Goetta at 2:15 AM on August 27, 2020