Another Invented Sign Language?
Watch this video,
http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php
What is that sign?… admit? or willing?
Contact: scott@gratitudecampaign.org ………if you think that this sign language is WRONG.
We have over 100,000 ASL students from Universities in USA that learned ASL and they will not even understand that sign language!
Please,
John Egbert
Posted on December 11th, 2007 by egbertpress
Filed under: Uncategorized
I don’t think the sign the lady used at the end of the tape has anything to do with sign language; I saw the gesture as a “Thanks from my heart for your service to our country”.
I agree with DT, although I wonder if all soldiers will understand the sign. I also wonder why they couldn’t just use the ASL sign for thanks??
“The sign language sign for thank you starts at the chin and we thought geez, if you don’t know what this means, you might not take it kindly. And that’s certainly not the message we wanted to send,” he said.
After a little research, he came up with a new idea.
“The gesture starts with your hand on your heart as if you’re about to do the Pledge of Allegiance. And then you just bring the hand down and out in front of you. It actually means thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_092307WAB_gratitude_campaign_SW.102c1d0ba.html
Scott Truitt is the first person to invent language as a hearing supremacy.
DT and Rox,
I am not sure if you are an ASL user. If you see the clip that was shown and click on how he got that sign. He said it was ASL sign for thank you. No No Please do not tarnish our beautiful ASL by allowing someone else to invent a new sign.
I sent Scott an email telling him that I agree with his mission to thank the soliders but do not say it is an ASL sign for Thank You.
David
This is a time where the producer of this advertisement needs to be corrected. He is doing a disservice to American Sign Language and by making up his own sign for thank you. His intention is good to say thank you to our troops but he insults the Deaf Community when he assumes that making up signs is appropriate.
I think he was afraid that if some hearing people signed it in the wrong way, it would come out as saying “f— you” instead of signing “thank you” so he invented it in a way that it won’t happen. That is my gut feeling. However, the sign that he invented looks really awkward and I would prefer to use ASL “thank you” sign. We should copyright our ASL so that no one can copy our signs, don’t you think?
I agree… why change the sign of Deaf Americans. Would you allow one to change Spoken English to something different than “Thank You”. We Deaf Americans want to express our thanks… just like Spoken English people would say “Thank You” to soldiers. P L E A S E respect American Sign Language as much as you would respect English and other languages.
Shirley
I’ll write this clown-puncher and THANK HIM not to muck around with another people’s language.
Scott Truitt, I don’t appreciate that you claim to be the first person to invent the sign language gesture for “Thank you to Veterans” American Sign Language belongs to the deaf community when you destroy our language, so we in deaf community don’t allow you to make up your own sign language. We have always had a sign for “Thank you,” wasn’t that good enough. You could have used the proper sign to begin with.
Ahh they were trying to say THANK YOU but they are doing it wrong! lazy or whatever.
I’ve seen one hearing person in my towon do that, I finally got tired of it so explain to her how it was properly done. Asked her who taugh, she said deaf people from when she waitressed at restaurant before. I think she just got lazy like many others.
I disagree with Scott’s reasoning that people would reaction to THANK-YOU in ASL with something, like “we thought geez, if you don’t know what this means, you might not take it kindly.”
I have used that THANK-YOU sign with non-signers all the time, and they always took it with appreciation or copied my sign to “thank me back.”
There is not even one time when they said, “oh geez, you blow a kiss to me!” or anything like that.
Oh, I didn’t read the comments. Hmmmm “thanks from the bottom of my heart” ? well….It doesn’t sound too bad eh? but what’s wrong with deaf way thank you like they normally do and then put their hands over their heart? I’ve seen many older deaf sign that when they wanted to express their gratitude to someone from the bottom of their heart. Either way, doesn’t matter to me, we all will continue to sign the way we want to right?
I think this gesture was well-intended. A little research would be helpful to minimize language distortion. In American Sign Language (ASL), this gesture is the sign for WILLING, so glossed for the term willingness. It is how we would teach our ASL students so the conclusion of this “thank you” propaganda could become a mockery. “The woman becomes a willing subject for a soldier’s pleasure but he bashfully waves to decline it.”
am a ASL beginner . and i got much from this video and comments… it’s useful! for my ASL learning, i get much help from my friends on deaf dating site deafromance.com, many of them are deaf, they always gives me directions about ASL. many thanks!
I NOTICE AND I WAS SURPRISE THAT YOU USE DIFFERENT OF SIGN LANGAUGE HONOR OUR MILATARY FROM HEART SAID THANK YOU I LIKE THAT SIGN LANGAUGE BUT FOR ME I AM DEAF NAVY BRAT. I USE AYE SIR TO ALL OVER MY NAVAL FREINDS. BUT NEW SIGN LANGAUGE FOR EVERYONE IN USA WILL BE GREAT TO RESPECT OUR SOILDER. I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS IN SEPT 11 ,2002 IN PENTAGON. FOR ME I USE AYE HONOR FACE TO FACE EACH OTHER SOILDER BUT IT TOUGHEST ENTER WITH BIG GUN FACE TO FACE BUT MY MIND SAID SHOOT I TOOK TAKE PICS MYSELF FRONT DEAF SOILDER TO SOILDER BECAUSE WE ARE FREINDS OUR COUNTRIES. BUT I HAVE PICS OF MY WORK WITH NAVY IN VIRGINA BEACH, VA ONE DAY I PUT IN MY VLOG BUT I AM STILL STUDY ON MY WORK AND WAIT WEB CAM. REMEMBER OUR BRAVE SOILDER STAND OUR HOMELAND LIKE ME. I HAD MY TATTOO OF DEAF NAVY USA ON MY ARM. I LOVE VEIDO I PUT IN MY FILE AWSOME THAT RESPECT RIGHT SIGN LANGAUGE OF HEART SAID THANK YOU. I AM MILAITARY PROUD.
I assume you found this link from our site ( http://fookembug.wordpress.com/2007/12/09/if-you-appreciate-their-service-give-them-a-sign/#comments) I wonder about that part too. I think if anyone wishes to give a heartfelt thank in ASL, would you rather to sign it in English? I am not saying if it is correct or not. I think some people would like to express something special more than just “thank you” like poem. I prefer to put my hand on my heart and use other hand to sign for “thank you”. I have seen some people using “ILY” handshape on chin by saying thank you.
First, let me apologize for the confusion and offense taken by my limited understanding of ASL and how to use and/or discuss it. I had no intention of “inventing my own sign, then claiming it was ASL”.
For the record, my first idea for this campaign was to use the official ASL sign for “thank you”. I loved the simplicity of the sign, and in my mind it wouldn’t hurt for the hearing to better understand ASL so that we can all communicate with each other more effectively.
However, Michele is correct. There is a gesture that has been around for at least 30 years that also starts at the chin, and does NOT mean “thank you” — especially to those who do not use ASL. I did not want to run the risk of offending the very people that we were trying to thank. So I called a professor at a respected university and told him what I was trying to do. He explained the gesture/sign that we are using to me. He did say that it was a bit more “slang” than the standard sign for “thank you”, and that it might not be as widely known.
That being said, I have no intention of bastardizing or piggy-backing on ASL with a sign that is not truely a sign. I have spent my afternoon fielding e-mails on this topic, a few of which have been very helpful in working through the question of whether this is a real sign or not. I have some sources that I will be looking in to in order to come to a final decision on the matter. And, if we determine that this is not an ASL sign (”slang” or otherwise), I will most certainly change the verbiage on our web site to make that more clear.
Please understand that we run the risk of offending either way. I have received several e-mails from people saying that they do use ASL, and that they are familiar with this sign. So if we change our verbiage to be clear that it is not, we run the risk of offending those who believe that it is. I hope to get a ruling from a recognized authority on the matter to put everyone’s mind at ease — including my own.
I hope that you will be patient with us. We will try to resolve this as quickly as we can.
With respect,
Scott Truitt
David, I see now, thanks.
Michelle, I agree pretty much with what you said except for the copyright.
I AGREE WITH EVERYONE WHO IS AGIANST THE NEW SIGN. I AM ONLY A LEVEL ONE ASL STUDENT, SO I AM NEW AT THE LANGUAGE WHEN I SAW THAT VIDEO IT MADE ME KIND OF CONFUSED ON WHY PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO CHANGE THE SIGNS OF THE TRUE ASL!?…. I HAVE STUDIED HOW HARD THESE DEAF POEPLE HAVE FOUGHT FOR THE FREEDOM TO USE SIGN LANGUAGE. I THINK THAT ITS KIND OF RUDE TO UST CREATE YOUR OWN SIGN THEN EXPECT PEOPLE TO USE IT. I WOULD MUCH RATHER JUST SAY THE ORIGINAL “THANK YOU.”
John…
As a hearing person who uses and own the English language, I am very offended at your mangling of the English language. How dare you sully the beauty of my own language?
Michelle,
Please demonstrate to me in what you mean when you say non-signers would take the ASL version of thank you as f—-you? I am trying to figure that out. If you sign good morning I understand that but Thank You?
Scott,
Thank you for admitting your limited understanding of ASL. and clarifying your situation. In my eyes the professor from that respected university gave you a bad advice. If you look in all ASL books the sign for Thank You will be from mouth and down.
My advice is to take care of your videoclip quickly. Do not wait to determine what the right signs are. You got plenty of emails and comments to tell you that.
David
I loved the idea of thanking our soliders for everything that have done to protect out country!
The video in general was powerful!
It would have been more powerful if the sign “Thank You” was done properly in the form of American Sign Language.
We can express the sign “Thank YOU” in the proper form of ASL and still indicate it is coming from the bottom of our heart. How? Use facial expression showing how sincere you are in thanking a solider!
Simple!
Hope Scott will be able to re-create the video with the proper sign of “Thank You”. I would love to see that video again! It will most certainly remind me to take the time and thank a solider!
I leave you with this popular quote “if you can read in English, thank a solder”. Amen!
…..one more thing!
Pardon me for misspelling solider in the popular quote! I was thinking faster than I type! My bad!
Well, referring to Carl, that is a gesture symbol and I think it is a matter of grateful thanks toward the military show appreciateship gesture, I am not sure!
That’s HUGE mistake for the hand-signing “Thank you!”….. They shoud to “re-do” this commerical and do the sign right for “Thank you.”
Therefore, DON’T MESS WITH A.S.L.!
Hello,
This is bigger than I thought. Raychelle mentioned that the gratitude campaign website gets over 10,000 hits a day…not only that if you see the website. It has a list of places Mr. Truitt has shown the film… it is everywhere in NW USA and even in Pittsburgh especially at footbal sadiums which gets over 80,000 fans per game.
I would categorize that sign under “Playing with Signs” for example “Play-By-Ear” we use the one hand sign for play and place it near our ear. Same with “Thanks from our heart” we could sign it that way.
What about the gestures that athletes use with fist banging on heart and then pointing at someone or at the sky how would you translate it. “Thank You God”, “I love you God”, or “God, you are in my heart”
Why not use regular sign for thank you and then point or thump on/to the heart meaning “Thank you from my heart.”
The model Mr. Truitt used to show the sign “Thank you from bottom of myheart” looks like he is signing pregnant even tho the description says do not sign it that way. That is conflict.
There is a lot of hurt people especially in the ASL community and lot of cleaning up and corrections that needed to be made immediately.
For our sake shut down the website now! Make corrections and get it back up with input from the ASL community.
You must get the website back up after making corrections because I agree 110% on your mission and cause.
David
Whoa!! Slow down, please… ASL is not a concrete, immovable language. There is no such thing as “exact” ASL. If anyone questions that, please view the 1913 films made by the NAD - especially George Veditz’s film on the preservation of sign language. It is a beautiful presentation, but we can easily see that in 90+ years, ASL has changed significantly…
This video about which we are arguing is NOT intended for Deaf people — it is for our soldiers who are risking their lives every day to preserve our freedom. Would you be happier if instead of “creating” a new sign from the heart, they decided to use the middle finger?? I see MANY deaf using the middle finger, and that is NOT ASL - that is a HEARING “sign”
Please cool off the anger and understand this is a very good thing, and be proud that the film maker decided to use an ASL root sign for the purpose presented here.
I shed a tear when I saw the video, and I know many other people have done the same… Its a beautiful work of art.
I_C_Voices
Thank you for sharing some words of reason.
I was brought to tears watching this video as well and I don’t think this film maker had any intention of offending people when he made this gesture.
It absolutely amazes me how we as a society have gotten to the point where no matter what you do you are going to offend someone.
It truly is a sad time in our history as a people.
Response to Scott Truitt: CLICK HERE
For some of you who wonder what obscene sign the guy was referring to. If you watch italian shows, I’m italian myself and see it all the time growing up, it is a sign that most italians use to say F Y or whatever. It is hand curled towards you somewhat and you start at the chin and extent it outward. so, it’s interesting that they saw it that way. It does resemble closely to us italians, but for deaf who do not know italian gesture, they wouldn’t know unless told.
Either way, I hope this gets resolved in a postitive way. We do need to thank the soldiers for their services whether we believe in the war or not! They do deserve thanks for putting their lives at risk to fight a war our Commander in Chief ordered them to.
Yes, just like what C said. I got an email response from Scott and he described the sign moving from UNDER THE CHIN moving outward. sort of same sign as “FOMP” used back to old days at Gallaudet.
Anyway, as long as THANK-YOU is produced correctly, it should be fine. Granted, it is now too late to re-do the video, but there are options that Scott is exploring.
I told him that there are other ways of creative use of ASL signs, for example: using two hands to sign THANK-YOU, then placing both hands on chest at heart area. I think it’s more powerful than ADMIT-look-like sign. Of course, thousands of viewers wouldn’t know the difference
Scott, that is so typical… Calling up some “expert” professor rather than asking the Deaf people ourselves? As if we couldn’t tell you ourselves? That is exactly what audists do, they bypass the deaf people and go ask some other “expert” who thinks they know better than us. You disgust me. Please do not mislead others on your website and say that this is the ASL sign for “thank you”. It is a lie. Take it off.
Anonymous at 9:23pm: Hello pot, meet kettle. Your English isn’t too hot either.
I C voices: Flipping the bird is not a “sign”. It is a gesture.
I wrote Scott and received the same response. I would like to address this source of the sign he uses. The professor is not a professor of ASL, is he? The university her refers to is listed in the credits on this website - University of Puget Sound. This university does not house an ASL program, nor do I see a Deaf Ed program. Therefore, your source is not credible! Before embarking on a campaign of this proportion, common sense would dictate that you should check out your sources thoroughly. I agree with David (Martin) - shut down the website and make appropriate revisions before relaunching.
As for the issue of people misunderstanding the ASL sign for “Thank You, ” I would have to say that is a lame excuse for not using it. These are American soldiers - not Italian soldiers! “Thank you” in ASL is so widespread here that it is practically universal! For those who don’t know it, it’s a shame that their world is so small they have never had the opportunity to encounter a deaf person on television, via the internet or on the street. Let’s educate them!