(no subject)

[camwyn]

Linguistic wires crossed in the brain today:

The ASL sign for 'God', at least as used in the Pledge of Allegiance, is a hand held vertically with the thumb facing the signer. The signer brings their hand down the middle of their face, from forehead to somewhere around the heart.

The scuba diver hand signal for 'shark', although not 'hammerhead shark', is a hand held vertically with the thumb side brought to the diver's forehead.

Having both of these signals in my brain meant that watching the woman who signed the Pledge of Allegiance at Biden's inauguration- or anyone signing the Pledge, really, but it's not like I go out of my way to look for videos of people signing the Pledge- results in a mental rendition of "one nation, under OH SHIT A SHARK".



For reference, the scuba hand signal for OH SHIT A HAMMERHEAD is to hold your fists on either side of your head. I don't know if that means anything in ASL.

Comments

[delight]

From what I know it isn't, but I like that sign better than the actual ASL for hammerhead shark and wonder if I can work it into the family lexicon. They WOULD know what I meant between image and context (except the six year old, possibly).

[camwyn]

They have some good signals in the diving world.

https://www.sportdiver.com/scuba-diving-hand-signals-shark-marine-life-turtle has video.
https://blog.padi.com/marine-life-hand-signals-for-underwater-communication/ has a bit more selection.

[chanter1944]

*cackling*