July 30, 2008: Slips of the hand
Josh Swiller arrived this afternoon, and a bunch of other people did too, so now the dorm feels like an actual place instead of a deserted jail. I was here all by myself for ten days.
Slips of the hand: when I told someone that “my roommate” Josh was arriving, I used the sign for together: my together Josh. I walked away vaguely feeling that I had implied my companion Josh. I may be from San Francisco, but I’m not that kind of San Francisco.
And when a woman in my class signed Pleased to meet you, instead of signing meet by holding two fingers up vertically relative to each other, she held them horizontally: Pleased to have sex with you. I don’t know what the sign for “have sex” is yet, but the class took it that way and everyone broke up.
I’m studying for my final exam, and somehow I forgot the sign for forget. If you don’t know the sign for forgetting, does that mean you have to remember everything? I hope so.
July 30, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Funny! It looks like learning to sign is a little bit like trying to lipread but you get the wrong word. Glad you have roomates and friends now!
Sara said:July 31, 2008 at 12:04 pm
The big difference between MEET and SEX is that the former uses one finger on each hand (the 1 shape represents a person) and the latter uses 2 fingers (represent two sets of legs ;) )
annie said:August 7, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Forget is hard for you? Wiping all the information out of your brain is how I was taught it.
Remember is hard for me. Hard enough that our ASL teacher would always cover in her reviews and made it part of her mid-term. After *that* I REMEMBERED (picture me touching one thumb to my forehead and touching my other thumb) remember.
Enjoy the dorm party! Should get fun from here.