Month: November 2023

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THE FIRST DOCTOR

2023 marks the 60th anniversary of the BBC program Doctor Who. As a fan of the science-fiction series, My ASL Dictionary contains cartoons of the Time Lord’s 13 incarnations. Using these characters to illustrate sign language also fits as the first intention of the Doctor Who program was to be educational.
In the summer of August 2013, my Time Lord collection began with an illustration of the First Doctor, played by actor William Hartnell.
With the stern face this grandfather would show both opponents and companions, the Doctor illustrates the ASL hand sign for SERIOUS. The tip of the index finger twists on the chin, like drilling in a serious point, as this Doctor would do weekly for his young audience in his 134 episodes.
#ASL #AmericanSignLanguage #signlanguage #serious #severe #doctorwho60ththanniversary #doctorwho #williamhartnell #cartoon #myasldictionary

Actors Richard Hurndall and David Bradley also played the role of Hartnell’s first Doctor for Doctor Who specials and documentaries. Perhaps in the future, if I have time, I’ll have each picture also use BSL, as these characters are from a British program and would be using British Sign Language, not ASL.

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BEAR NONE

Today was my friend Yvette Jessen’s birthday. She is both a lover of Bears and a master craftsman in Teddy Bear creation. For her special day, I animated my dictionary’s ASL hand sign for BEAR. In a 2015 illustration, this left-handed cartoon sports fan shows the ASL hand sign for BEAR with the complete team pattern appearing on the shirt when she’s finished. Arms crossed over the chest, the hands claw at the chest twice for the animal’s two large paws.

#ASL #AmericanSignLanguage #signlanguage #bear #animal #paw #cartoon #myasldictionary

Some of the earlier illustrations in my dictionary are left-handed characters because, at this time, I was still learning Signers’ Perspective. Instead of becoming a problem, this was a happy accident that filled my dictionary with right and left-handed people, like in real life. My sister Theresa is left-handed too, so I kept my ‘lefty’ characters as they were, continued to make some more, and included a Side Note on Page 6 of my Dictionary that the Active hand in sign language is the signer’s dominant hand, which can be Left or Right, making the book accessible to all.

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RESPONSIBLE DAD

Holding the responsibility of the care, protection, and raising of the next generation, I chose a Parent, specifically a Father, to illustrate the ASL hand sign for RESPONSIBLE. With pink fingerprints of baby food on his face and shirt, the new Father has his Child secured close to him in a blue baby sling as the happy baby giggles. The tips of the bent hands touch the shoulders once or twice to illustrate the weight of the situation on your shoulders. Similar to the ASL hand sign for BURDEN

#ASL #AmericanSignLanguage #signlanguage #responsible #responsibility #father #baby #myasldictionary

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DICTIONARY

With my book available online for home purchase, Tellwell Publishing is now setting it up for database distribution. While I patiently wait for Smashwords assessment of My ASL Dictionary for their catalog, the hand sign for this glossary of words. Created early in 2014 because a Dictionary without the word the Dictionary would be ridiculous, a cartoon of Noah Webster (of Webster’s Dictionary fame) illustrates the ASL hand sign for DICTIONARY.

The tips of the thumb and forefinger of the D hand lightly brush upwards twice on the heel of the opposite palm in a circular motion, like turning the pages of a book.
Similar to the handsign for PAGE and PAPER.

#ASL #AmericanSignLanguage #signlanguage #dictionary #webster #cartoon #tellwell #smashwords #smashwordsbooks #myasldictionary

When Smashwords adds My ASL Dictionary to its extensive catalog, it will be available for both libraries and schools. Every Author’s Dream.

A funny story about my book’s publication with Tellwell Talent. Working with the project team on the book’s cover, I discovered the artwork I had sent had misspelled Dictionary as Dictonary! How embarrassing! Even worse, as the cover was an image, not text, the editors also missed it. Thank goodness I caught this mistake before the book’s release, as a typo on the cover could make or break a book before it even begins.

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PEA BRAIN

As I continue to illustrate ASL signs, I usually avoid the derogatory, but the term pea-brain was so cartoony I wanted to draw a picture to match. A Pea Brain is a foolish, unintelligent, or small-minded person. Instead of drawing such a person, I illustrated the pea. Upset by the “Princess test” that kept her up all night in an uncomfortable bed, the delicate princess from the Hans Christian Andersen tale holds up the pea she found in her mattress and illustrates the ASL hand sign for PEA BRAINED, what she felt the idea was. The G hand touches the side of the head, twists, and makes contact again to show how tiny the brain is.
#ASL #AmericanSignLanguage #signlanguage #peabrained #moron #pea #princess #cartoon #myasldictionary

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COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

A Country is a Geographical Territory with specified boundaries containing its own government, language, and culture. With my ASL Dictionary listing the hand signs for several countries, it stood to reason to include the sign for Country and Nation. As the World’s first countries began in the Mother Continent of Africa (my apologies for my dictionary listing it as a country), a young African Ambassador dressed in purple shows the ASL hand sign for COUNTRY (with an ASL shield appearing later).
Palm in, the Y hand moves in a circle on the opposite arm, like polishing the shield on the forearm.
#ASL #AmericanSignLanguage #signlanguage #country #shield #africa #cartoon #myasldictionary

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MISUNDERSTANDING

What an absence of facts and clarity on intentions leads to. Without a clear visual for this word, I avoided drawing relationship angst and went with a character caught in a funny misunderstanding. A young woman overdressed in an 18th-century bathing suit and cap finds she has stumbled onto a nude beach as she shows the ASL hand sign for MISUNDERSTAND AND MISCONCEPTION.
The V hand / 2 hand palm out taps the index finger on the temple, then rotates the palm in for the middle finger to tap the temple, like thoughts turning around in the mind.
#ASL #AmericanSignLanguage  #signlanguage #misunderstand #misunderstanding #misconception #swimmer #cartoon #myasldictionary

I remember this hand sign for its similarities to the ASL hand sign for STUPID, which has the back of the V hand strike against the middle of the forehead. Misunderstand starting at the side temple with the back of the V hand and then twisting the palm’s direction makes it look like a correction on Stupid.

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GOODY LITTLE TWO SHOES

An idiom born from the 1700s nursery tale, “The History of Little Good Two Shoes.” The term became a descriptor for the perfect, excessively virtuous, and well-behaved do-gooder, often used sarcastically. A trustworthy chap dressed in an Angel costume with a bent Halo illustrates the ASL hand sign for GOODY-GOODY, Goody Goody Two Shoes, I’m Innocent, On Best Behaviour, Holier Than Thou, Pious, and I Did Nothing Wrong.
The open 7 hand is held up, with the ring finger bent into the palm as the index and middle fingers press together. As with most ASL, Facial expression and articulation determine the hand sign’s meaning. Holding up the 7 with a sincere face is a claim of innocence while shaking the 7 hand side to side with a snide grimace turns it into a sarcastic jab. My costumed angel is demonstrating the former.
#ASL #AmericanSignLanguage  #signlanguage #angel #halo #goodygoody #goodylittletwoshoes #innocent #bestbehaviour #holierthanthou #pious #cartoon #myasldictionary

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MAKES CENTS

February 04, 2013, The Canadian Royal Mint stopped the production of the 1 cent penny, the same year I was taught the hand sign in Sign Language. Wearing an anniversary penny celebrating the coin’s history, a young girl named Penny shows the ASL hand sign for Cents and Penny. Touch the Index finger to the right side of the forehead, then pull the finger out and down, briefly holding it in the air. For higher denominations, the shape of the hand changes with its number equivalent (2¢ 23¢ 99¢, etc.) By using her index finger, also the hand sign for one, Penny is signing 1 cent, which now in Canada can only be paid digitally.
#ASL #signlanguage #cents #penny #cartoon #myasldictionary

For the website, I added examples of higher denominations with the ASL hand signs for two bits, 25¢.

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JAPAN

Kato, the Green Hornet’s valet/chauffeur/bodyguard//mechanic began as a character from the Far East. In the 1936 premiere of the Green Hornet radio program, Kato was presented as Japanese. As I drew a cartoon of Bruce Lee as Kato for the ASL hand sign for CHINA, I used him again for the ASL hand sign for the Land of the Rising Sun as Kato is also the tenth most common Japanese surname. Dressed in a White Valet Tux, the coloured map of the country behind him, Kato illustrates the updated ASL hand sign for JAPAN, a loan hand sign from JSL Japanese Sign Language. The Index finger and thumb of both hands pull apart and close, outlining the shape of the island.
#ASL #signlanguage #kato #greenhornet #brucelee #japan #nihon #nippon #cartoon #myasldictionary

Looking back now, it was a missed opportunity my Kato research stopped after Japan and China. I could have continued to use the character for the hand signs of his other nationalities, KOREA, the PHILIPPINES, and TAWAIN.