Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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In which ASL makes everything AWESOME.

Yesterday, I was demonstrating to a friend of mine (who finds my fascination with ASL charming, if odd) that I can now sign "Behold! For now I wear the human pants!" My grammar is a little wonky, but I'll be seeing Judi in a few weeks, so right now I'm just working on getting the signs committed to muscle memory.

A Deaf gentleman about my age saw me signing, and got very excited. He came over, and signed, "You know ASL?" (In the case of signs that I don't know myself, but whose meaning was evident from context, I'm including them to form actual sentences.)

I signed back "A little." Emphasis on "little."

He asked what I knew...so I showed him. Around the time I hit "working in a mine for our robot overlords" and "did I say overlords? I meant protectors," he started to look, well, dubious. Like there was a chance I thought I knew some ASL, when really, someone was messing with me.

Then I signed "The Turtle can't help you."

His eyes widened, and he proceeded to finger-spell "IT?" I nodded. He made an "S" sign, followed by a gesture like putting on a crown. I nodded again. He got even more excited, especially since now he knew I actually understood my messed-up assortment of signs. He had me teach him "robot overlords," and he taught me the sign for "weird."

ASL and Stephen King: bringing the world closer together. The best part is that, for once in my life, I can legitimately say that the Turtle did help us.
Tags: good things, in the wild, silliness, stephen king, wild adventures
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  • 62 comments
Well, the Turtle does hold us all within his mind.
Very true.
This? Made my day exponentially better.
Yesterday made his day and mine exponentially better. His because I was trying, mine because he was so happy. (We sadly didn't get around to exchanging names, but he was very sweet.)

apocalypticbob

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

markbernstein

7 years ago

keristor

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

the_magician

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

I didn't realize you had posted this story after telling it to me on the phone! So I told it during our concert last night, when I needed to say something while Tony tuned to DADGAD for "When I Was a Boy".

Despite some people having apparently already read the story, it was still a big hit. Just so you know, you keep my audiences entertained even when you're not there. :)
I hadn't. TIME TRAVELERS THROUGH TIME.

And they didn't even bring us a flying car.
This is awesome.

Also, I need to learn ASL. It's been on my list of things I want to do for, like, ever.
Judi is an awesome ASL Ambassador.

judifilksign

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

And so goes our heroine, on the path of the beam.

I have to laugh--most Deaf folks get "Hi...my name is _______" or "Do you read lips?" from neophyte signers. That guy's probably telling all his friends about his conversation with the Hearing woman with the robot overlords. And I bet it's making ALL their days!

Did he teach you "weird" with 3 fingers that scrunch up and release as you move your hand across your nose, or "weird/strange/odd" where you rotate your hand in a C shape 45 degrees in front of your nose? Just curious...

Well, at least 'Hi, my name is $NAME' is the first thing they teach you in any foreign language, along with 'please', 'thank you', 'goodbye' and 'shut up and listen/watch the professor'*.

* Okay, so usually more politely. But it's some of the bits of Japanese I remember is how to say 'read/listen/watch this, please', and 'repeat this louder/again/slower, please'.

mskauri

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

netpositive

7 years ago

mskauri

7 years ago

Fabulous story! You deserve another copy of IT!
Soon I'll be able to build an extension on the house!
*snrk!*

Very awesome. And yeah, very amused that you work on Coulton lyrics :-}
They're fun!
Only in your world, dear... but we're glad you share these things with us.
My world is nice. I like it here.
That's fantastic! :D :D :D
It was sooooo cool.
That is fabulous! It also tells me that it's time for me to do some Stephen King re-reading, because I don't get the reference.

How I'm going to fit that re-reading in I just don't know, because some people just insist on writing new books that I need to read, too.
Go read IT. For IT is true joy.

deakat

7 years ago

I may have to hunt you down at Consonance, and learn a few signs from you. In none of my books or classes have we learned Robot, or overlord. Sigh...I may have to ask around at Deaf Coffee tonight, see if I can find the signs.
Works for me!

Deleted comment

*ROFL*

(I thought that was redundant in certain contexts?)

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

OH MY GOD THAT'S AWESOME!!!!
WE RULE THE UNIVERSE.
Excellent!

At some point, technology like Natal is going to get good enough to recognize ASL. And then someone will make that the spellcasting system for a popular online role-playing game. And then there will be massive growth in the number of people who can sign “Kill it with fire!” and similar phrases.
...that would so rock. Hee.

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

That's brilliant!

My (british - I don't know how different it is from ASL) sign language skills are limited to an assortment of animals, 'ruler', and 'birthday'. I think I need to learn some fun things. And joining words, so I can make a complete sentence.
ASL is very different from BSL; their sources are different. Some things are very similar, like for eating and drinking, but the alphabets are waaay different!

I hope I meet you sometime to learn the British sign for "birthday," because that's a sign that changes regionally, and I like to collect ways to sign it.

(I feel so very clueless when watching the signing on Four Weddings and a Funeral.)

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

I so want to learn ASL now. I can fingerspell most of the alphabet, but that isn't really helpful.

You are full up of rawk and win. I bow to your greatness.
Dino dance party time!
I'm really hoping you will someday publish a book called "My encounters with strangers." I nominate the following incidents for inclusion:

--The professor who recognized Humboldt's parrot from Vixy's "Strange Messenger."
--The counter band dog
--This!

Lola
That could be fun.
*looks up the ASL for "All hail the blonde!"*
*giggles*
That is an AWESOME STORY.
It was pretty cool.
I love this story. I am thrilled when someone I meet gets one of the random references I make to some book or show or movie I love, so I can only imagine the levels of happy you made this man.
He showed me the sign for "infinitely better" when trying to explain how cool I had just made his day.
AN AWESOME IS YOU.

:D
... silly me, I should've used this icon.

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

I would totally love to see videos of these things you learn. Linda Bove is awesome, but there are practical considerations she never got around to showing us.
I have now learned "wicked girls saving ourselves" and "ice worms kill you with science."