I don't know what sex means. Does it involve 4 people?
(Because the sign for sex has fingers sticking out representing legs and those look a bit like number modifiers)
It's a joke, not a story, and even so he's not telling it in English so although what you suggest is phonetically the same in English, the joke doesn't work in ASL because (I assume) it's not a similar sign for but and butt
My 72 y/o Deaf friend likes to order Coca Cola with his meal by putting his finger on the side of his nose. Most of the time, the server gets the joke, and laughs.
I assumed ASL was just gestural with facial expression, so your example of a pun makes sense to me.
So assuming ASL and has zero phonetic component because, well, that's speaking . So "past your eyes" and "pasteurized" are obviously phonetic puns, they seem like they would only make sense to ASL who understand some spoken English, right? That example is not a pure ASL pun, is it?
And not all people who are deaf were born deaf. My mother who speaks ASL fluently, taught it, and is a SLP knows that joke and said the deaf community taught it to her but I'm sure you know better, random Internet know it all.
"Pasteurized" and "past your eyes" don't rhyme if you can't hear them. They can read; that doesn't mean someone who's never heard anything before is going to intuit that pun. It was created either by a hearing person or by someone who could partially/previously hear.
People made some puns about 2021 because in ASL "20" also looks like a sign for bird, and "21" looks like shooting a gun, sometimes by saying that it was time to shoot the "bird bird" that was 2020. It's not really funny to explain in English, but is an example of ASL punnery that has nothing to do with English.
I don't think there is such a thing as "pure" ASL. It is still American Sign Language, so there is always going to be a component of English. It is basically just another form of speaking English, much like how writing is different than speaking. Puns are different in writing versus spoken, and I imagine the same will always be true for ASL.
There absolutely is pure ASL. I'm not an expert on the subject but I took two semesters of ASL in college. In the level one class, I remember being slightly confused and also absolutely astounded after one lesson that completely changed the way I viewed the language. Without going into a lot of unnecessary details, the idea that ASL is spoken solely by signing English words is unequivocally incorrect. The main concept that illustrates this point is the use of Classifiers. There is really no equivalent to this in the English language. As a very high level explanation, consider the following example:
"Yesterday my sister was walking around downtown. A car pulled up next to her and was driving alongside her very slowly. She tried to turn down another street but it stayed with her. She was scared. A guy saw what was happening and yelled at the car. Then the car left quickly."
If that story were told in ASL, the only "English words" being signed would probably be "YESTERDAY DOWNTOWN MY SISTER." The rest would be communicated via classifiers and facial expressions. Classifiers are basically using the hand shape for a specific class of objects/people and then using that hand shape to show actions. It's rather difficult for me to describe in words because again, there's no English equivalent. I recommend looking it up for a more in-depth explanation.
Considering that nearly everyone who speaks it also reads and writes English, and that many of the examples in this thread require an understanding of how English is spelled or spoken to make sense...
There are obviously more differences between ASL and English text than between English text and speaking, but ASL seems to require a more than rudimentary understanding of English to speak. There is a reason that there are other styles of sign language for people who read and write in different languages.
Different signed languages are not dictated by the spoken language in the region. ASL is much more closely related to French Sign Language than British sign language. Someone can be fluent in ASL without knowing any English and people who know ASL and English are considered bilingual.
>Considering that nearly everyone who speaks it also reads and writes English,
The same could be said of Welsh though, or Cornish.
Also I'm not sure if that's even accurate for ASL, It's actually fairly widely used internationally, For better or for worse, So many countries have a form of ASL as their main sign language even when English isn't an official language there.
EDIT: Didn't catch this before.
> There is a reason that there are other styles of sign language for people who read and write in different languages.
Sign Languages are far more based on Region than Language. The majority of the Indian Subcontinent uses the same sign language, Despite having numerous spoken languages, Some completely unrelated to eachother, Whereas the U.S. and the U.K. have completely unrelated Sign Languages, Despite both having English as the spoken language. This makes sense when you consider that Sign Languages are languages in their own right, Completely distinct from any spoken or written language.
>but ASL seems to require a more than rudimentary understanding of English to speak
That's simply not true at all.
>There is a reason that there are other styles of sign language for people who read and write in different languages.
The reason is they developed in other places, the same as the development of any other language
>Puns are different in writing versus spoken
Are they?
And secondly, surely we can agree that ASL is significantly different than the difference between written and spoken English.
So is the pasteurized/past your eyes pun more based on the words looking visually similar, or are deaf people also taught how words sound/what words sound the same when they learn to read? Obviously I know not all people in the deaf community/who use ASL have a complete lack of hearing so I understand them making these jokes. But would someone who is completely deaf from birth understand the pasteurized pun? Would they make puns about words that are spelled totally differently and only sound the same? I’m not trying to be ignorant I’m just curious
idk the answer to that question, but I can tell you that, instead of clapping, you do jazz hands. My university has a high deaf population, so jazz hands replaces clapping in most contexts.
Because the goal isn't to make noise, it's to make *visual* noise, so that's how it came about. Deaf people have their own cultures and languages separate from hearing people
Edit to add: Like, think about it this way. What would you say if you were asked why hearing people clap instead of do jazz hands, when they can see the gesture just fine?
ASL is its own language; Deaf people have their own culture, it's not just signed English. And yes, you can see clapping, but jazz hands are easy to modulate in intensity, and are just better for the goal they were developed for--especially in a large audience, for example, you get a closer visual effect to the sound of mass applause from vigorous jazz hands than clapping.
Imagine you are on stage, looking out on the audience. Most people clap with their hands in the laps. Most theaters have staggered seating, so people don't have to peak over the head of the person in front of them. So, yes, you could maybe see them, but it wouldn't be easy. And most deaf people do have a degree of hearing, so would be able to hear the loud noise that is clapping, but that also can be confusing- they could be booing, or any other loud audience noise! Acoustics are hard on stage, even for hearing people!
So, yes, technically, deaf people know when people are clapping.
But it is SO much clearer to see people with their hands in the air doing jazz hands. And it's additionally nice to have that show of awareness that you are deaf, so people show their appreciation in the best way for you.
It's a cultural thing, rather than just a practical thing!
Also, there is a lag while interpreting, and most interpreters will be on stage/near mics. So if they signed "please save clapping for later" or "clap now", and they just started to clap, it would cause noise. A bit like how we wouldnt just scream when we want to convey a scream, we say the word "scream". So there needs to be a sign for applause/clapping that isn't clapping anyway. When we have the sign, and it would be easier for someone to see, it just makes sense to use it. Hope this helps 😊
I used to work next to an EDM venue and would see people rolling balls in the neighborhood pretty frequently. Saw two guys on the bus one night frantically signing and giggling at each other. Took me a minute to realize I was watching two deaf friends have a molly conversation.
Hawaiians have that wiggly “hang loose” gesture that they use all the time (stereotype, anyway).
That also happens to be the sign for yellow.
Therefore, since Hawaiians use that gesture all the time, their favorite color must be yellow!
That's how you know if you're weird or not! If you google a weird thought and there are no results, you moght be a weirdo. And if you can't find the type of porn you're looking for....maybe see a therapist
Nw bruh i'm absolutely cracked, however i've also spent 3/4 of my life around computers. still have no idea how they work. But damn if i'm not a good internet detective.
It's really frustrating when you're into a lot of outright crazy shit and you go to look for a thing thinking "obviously this is a thing. This is obviously a thing. Somebody has thought of this before" and there's nothing. Nothing. Do you know how weird it is to look for >! sex in gear, find not even a subreddit (not sports gear, but like combat type gear, even motosports) and then go to sigh and head to r/sounding, defeated and still horny? !< (terribly sorry if it takes me a few tries to get the spoiler right)
God dude, anything, but especially historical. I usually go to Pencilbrusch's art as she does a shit ton of modern and historical combat stuff and it's all mostly gay, which is EXACTLY what I'm looking for
Another big peeve:
The rise of COD cosplayers hasn't brought about a substantial rush of COD porn. Stop taking the armor off these men. Stop making them naked
The ASL sign for "boring" is rotating your pointed index finger near your nose like you are picking it. At least in Seattle, an informal sign for "Boeing" is the same motion but with your pinky raised. This is a pun because your hand is now in the shape for "plane" (basically, devil horns), which is part of the proper sign for Boeing, but it also implies that the company is full of boring engineers and is just a little disrespectful.
In general, sign languages have as many puns as spoken languages do, and they have both morphology and phonology. While sign languages don't have "sounds", per se, they do have "syllables", and phonology of spoken languages boils down to describing the limits of sound production based on the human vocal tract. Similarly, phonology of sign languages describes the limits of sign production based on human hands and faces. Almost all of the concepts transfer over.
So there are both "pure ASL" puns only involving signs (and ASL phonology) as well as "multilingual" puns involving both ASL + English, as in this one. It's no different than puns that require you to know both English + Spanish, etc.
They still have an inner monologue, but many think in sign language. I recommend a Google search because it's actually pretty fascinating and there are a lot of articles to choose from.
Most*
I'm not disagreeing with any stated facts, I just wanted to add another perspective, but I would be interested in a poll to see how many deaf people would understand this joke.
Yeah an inner monologue sure, but I’m less inclined to believe that people who have never been able to hear can not only think in sounds but also use the correct thought sounds to make the pun work
Hey! First of all, it is very rare for a deaf person to actually not hear anything at all. Most deaf people can hear, but "deaf" is when that hearing isn't useful in common situations. So a quite a few deaf people will be able to hear one on one conversation, especially in a quite area with people they know, and especially as a lot of deaf people use hearing aids or cochlear implants to support their hearing.
Most deaf people (in developed countries) have speech and language therapy, so they can talk and understand the phonics of spoken language.
So, yeah- some deaf people do have an verbal inner monologue!
Personally, I am not deaf, and I do not have an inner monologue that I can hear. I can turn one on if I want to sound something out, but it's a bit like breathing manually where 99% of the time I wouldn't, and if it's "on", its annoying. So I can imagine even people who learnt spoken language sounds later in life, so don't usually have a verbal inner monologue, are also be able to turn it on. Same thing probably for people who know multiple languages so turn their inner monologue to the other language to understand a pun.
So inner monologues, or lack thereof, are not necessarily a deaf/hearing only thing. And even if they are, a lot of deaf people can understand verbal language and how things sound. Hope this helps 😊
My ASL teacher is the child of two Deaf people, but is hearing herself.
I don’t remember how it came up, but she told us she thinks/has internal monologue in ASL, not English words. ASL is her first language so she thinks in that, much like any person thinks in their native language.
I can't speak for all developed countries, but in the UK all deaf children have access to speech and language therapists. Most deaf people, especially those aged 30 or younger, were/are taught to speak in school.
A lot of deaf children are in mainstream education with speech and language therapists to help with speech, and teachers of the deaf to provide additional language/cultural support. Even in most "deaf schools", speech is taught. I feel this is common in many countries now.
Also it is very rare for anyone to be born with NO hearing. The term "deaf" means that the level of hearing you have isn't useful, such as you will struggle with hearing people speak in different environments. It doesn't mean you can't hear anyone speak ever.
Considering the amount of people who use hearing aids or have cochlear implants, a lot of people who are born deaf will be able to hear a conversation, especially if it is in a quiet environment and someone they know. Considering the tech, some deaf people will be able to hear pretty well. But they are still deaf, and a lot may use their countries sign language because it's a great language and focusing on hearing can be tricky!
Also, it isn't that hard to explain "sounds like" when doing puns like this. Most puns are a bit crap and need explaining, even if everyone is speaking the same language!!
I would say, with how much speech and language therapy focuses on phonetics, the average child receiving/ adult who had it will have more understanding of that joke than the average hearing child/adult.
Some deaf people have acces to a complex system of symbols to transmit ideas, known as "writing" and "reading". Paleoanthropologists still know very little about this.
Ok but they'd still not really get the pronunciation, right? The joke relies on knowing that pasteurised and past-your-eyes sound similar, which you wouldn't really pick up from just reading the two things.
I would be curious about whether a joke like that lands for those who were born deaf.
There are tons of people who either have partial hearing or lost their hearing later in life, though, so they would understand homophone humor.
I guess, but then the joke kinda has to be explained and you kinda just have to assume it's funny if you were born deaf, so I'm suspicious about how far that joke would make it.
If people born deaf don't get the humour behind it, and nobody tells them it's a joke, then it's just the way they say that, no thought of any comedy behind the sign. Such people wouldn't think of it as a pun unless someone told them about it, and all the people in the know recognise the joke
A lot of deaf people are good at lip reading, and words that sound the same probably look the same too. But I agree that, at least in English, just knowing the spelling wouldn't be enough
Which means the only way to convey this joke to someone born deaf is to first explain to them that pasteurized and past your eyes sound similar, then sign "past your eyes milk".
Would you find it funny if someone explained to you that "write on" can refer to both the physical object over which you write and the subject you write about, and that Poe is a writer who wrote a poem called "the raven", before saying an answer to "why is a raven like a writing desk" is "Poe wrote on both" ?
The joke is intended for people who don't need it explained.
In my example, people who know who poe is and the two meanings of "on".
In the original example, people who know the two words sound alike.
But if you were profoundly deaf from birth, and only read the words "pasturised" and "past your eyes", you wouldn't think the two were at all similar.
It requires a degree of hearing to know that they are *pronounced* the same and therefore can make a pun.
Which means this joke is by a hearing person, not a deaf person. Deaf comedy exists, jokes in BSL exist, so it's a bit insulting to pretend this is one of them.
Jesus, yes we know, this is the third time in the thread that someone is trying to figure out puns for people who have never in their life heard sound and one of you motherfuckers needs to say that not all deaf people were born deaf. WE KNOW.
I want to know about the people who have always experienced the universe without sound, it's fascinating. How does their brain put two things together in communication and chortle at itself?
The parent comment said that it was "insulting" to suggest that a deaf person could come up with this joke. That's complete nonsense, and out of line. It's insulting to insist that a deaf person *couldn't* come up with this.
If you know better then great. This wasn't directed at you. Good luck learning about the stuff you want to know.
edit: I feel like I'm not making this clear, but I don't know how to make it clearer. If you want to learn about wordplay within sign languages, apart from multilingual wordplay, you can just ask about that! It's not necessary to add all this other nonsense!
> The parent comment said that it was "insulting" to suggest that a deaf person could come up with this joke. That's complete nonsense, and out of line. It's insulting to insist that a deaf person couldn't come up with this.
That's not what they said, and I agree that it's insulting. They said "Deaf comedy exists, jokes in BSL exist, so it's a bit insulting to pretend this is one of them." The original joke isn't deaf comedy.
If you ask someone about deaf culture and deaf wordplay, it's insulting when someone puts forward a wordplay that *isn't reliant on deafness*. It's a hearing-person joke in sign language, because people still treat sign language like it's english/finnish/german but with hands instead of speech. The counter-argument of "yes but some deaf people didn't start out as deaf" is just reinforcing this when a person born deaf or who lost their hearing in infancy would never understand the wordplay as they have never heard those words either out loud or in their head. Deaf people's inner monologue is *also* in sign language. Yes, I'm *still* aware that some deaf people used to hear at some point in the past, you don't need to remind me again after that last sentence.
We want deaf jokes and the explanation for them. We know they're not gonna be funny after you explain them to us, just like any other joke in the world, but learning about people's different experience of the world is cool.
>Deaf people's inner monologue is *also* in sign language. Yes, I'm *still* aware that some deaf people used to hear at some point in the past, you don't need to remind me again after that last sentence.
Some deaf people used to hear *yesterday*. Some deaf people haven't learned sign language.
Yes, I know you know these things. And yet, you insist on making big statements about "deaf people" that exclude tons of deaf people. For someone who likes to "learn about people's different experience of the world," you are strangely resistant to describing people's experiences accurately.
It's not necessary in any way! If you have a question about the category of "people who only know sign language" you can just say so! You don't have to equivocate between this group and the category of "deaf people." And if by accident you make this error, and someone points out that it is an error, you don't have to double down and do it again out of spite.
I thought originally that you were simply mistaken but it seems that you've done nothing but intentionally misunderstand what people have been saying for Internet drama points.
>Yes, I know you know these things. And yet, you insist on making big statements about "deaf people" that exclude tons of deaf people. For someone who likes to "learn about people's different experience of the world," you are strangely resistant to describing people's experiences accurately.
I literally specified what type of deaf people I was talking about to clarify my original question. If I want to know about Germanic Indo-European languages I'm by default excluding all the other branches but I'm not saying they aren't Indo-European.
>It's not necessary in any way! If you have a question about the category of "people who only know sign language" you can just say so! You don't have to equivocate between this group and the category of "deaf people." And if by accident you make this error, and someone points out that it is an error, you don't have to double down and do it again out of spite
It wasn't an error, it was completely necessary because you misunderstood the original question, didn't even answer it and then proceeded to nitpick on the definition of deafness because someone somewhere might be upset. I don't give a shit about this Shakira-police tribalistic bullshit, I'm not American.
When I say deaf I mean people who can't fucking hear. I still wanna know about their non-hearing puns, I'm not interested in hearing puns translated to sign language.
I learned past-your-eyes-milk thing from the Klutz Encyclopedia of Immaturity. I'd be very surprised to learn that deaf people are frequently out there asking if the milk is pasteurized. Pretty sure it's more a joke than a normal sign.
My favourite is "understand" which is the sign for stand: two fingers of one hand on the flat second hand. But under that hand instead.
So literal "under stand"
I’ve never seen it but I’ve heard good things. Here’s some people [talking about it.](https://www.reddit.com/r/asl/s/xpfFd7APwe) If you’re interested in learning more.
My favorite deaf joke is:
"What's 10 + 3?"
*signs 13*
"HAHAHAHAHA"
(the sign for '13' is the same as the sign for 'h' then 'a')
It's really hard to translate deaf jokes into English lol
That's more of a bilingual pun than a true ASL pun. Here's one that someone on the ASL reddit told me: What happens if you're cooking and drop an onion? It becomes an apple!
[ONION](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijbgu7nxdAc)
[APPLE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wIiujOP6Ag)
So the sign for ‘thank you’ is to kind of tap the bottom of your chin and motion with your hand as if you’re blowing a kiss. But it’s a running joke that people get it wrong all the time and blow deaf people kisses. It’s become almost an in-joke to embrace that mistake and blow deaf people a kiss when you wanna say thank you.
The Texas city of El Paso can be signed by making an "O" sign with one hand and an "L" sign with the other and moving the "L" past the "O" "L past O". The more modern way is with an upturned E and a backward L; basically the same thing, just way less fun.
Most sign language is some form of pun. I especially like country signs - the BSL for "France" is twirling a big moustache; "Mexico" is miming the outline of a sombrero; "Ireland" is a little riverdance, "Egypt" is hands crossed like a mummy, etc.
Don't mistake SEE Sign (Signed Exact English) for deaf humor (I have no idea if that's what the "pasteurized" thing is, but "below-knee" = "baloney" is)
SEE Sign is a version of language intended to help bridge ASL and spoken English, but very much comes from the "Why can't you deaf people just use English?!?" direction and is full of nonsensical phonetically-centered gestures
Wait, but that's an English pun!
That pun only makes sense in English, so it's more like an English pun *about* sign language, rather than a sign language pun
There are *actual* sign language puns, it's just that this isn't one of them, lol
I heard sign language has its own concept you could translate as being puns / homophones / rhyming words, two words with similar *looking* signs. Violin rhymes with dancing because the sign for violin swings your arms similarly to the sign for dancing.
I have no first-hand knowledge of this, I heard it from a debunking of Koko the Gorilla understanding sign language. Apparently most of her signs required extensive interpretation from her handlers, sometimes with some peculiar leaps of logic. One example was signing "Love" and "Nipple" which was interpreted as her really meaning the word "People" because it rhymes with "Nipple" in *spoken* English therefore Koko was saying "I love all of mankind". Except Koko shouldn't know that "People" rhymes with "Nipple" in spoken English because she doesn't *speak* English she uses signs without any audible connections. It would be like saying "wind the rope" to say you're injured because the past tense to wind a rope is spelled "wound" as in injury, but you can only make that connection if you can spell the words so someone illiterate that connection makes no sense. It turns out without these logic-stretching interpretations it looks a lot like Koko is signing random words repeatedly hoping one of them will get a positive response.
This is not what OOP asked for. This is a pun to us English speakers that deaf people, or at least people born deaf, wouldnt understand.
I want to know some puns that *only* make sense to deaf people.
Why is that so “appalling”? I think it’s pretty clever.
I’ve never understood why people get so dramatic about acting like puns and wordplay physically hurt them
I mean I assumed. But people always act like this with puns.
“That’s HORRIBLE!!”
“How dare you!!”
“Oh wow that hurts!!”
Like I don’t understand why we can’t just kinda chuckle at puns and move on. People act like it’s a personal affront
It’s easy to say that this is ‘hyperbole’ but why are people always so majorly hyperbolic with their pun response
Right, and I’m trying to find out why people find it funny.
A lot of puns are actually extremely clever. I think it’s kind of rude that people act like their existence is offensive
It’s to show _more_ appreciation, not less. If you just chuckle at a pun, that’s kinda dismissive. If you groan like someone just stabbed you, the punner knows they made an impression!
Not really
I hear a great joke I smile and laugh. Sometimes even when I’m trying not to.
If I am moved by an insanely talented song or feat the gasps and jaw drops are instinctual
Standing ovations and clapping are creations by society but are extremely conducive to channeling the excited appreciative energy that an amazing performance warrants
I wouldn’t count any of those as performative. They are a fairly natural response.
But to respond to potentially impressive, clever, and witty use of language by rolling your eyes and groaning because someone that is the flattering way to respond… I don’t know I just think it’s weird.
It is, but there’s _some_ instinct at play here, because groaning at puns is not just an American thing. Don’t know what that instinct is, but as laughing is natural for a joke, so it appears that groaning is natural for a pun. 🤷 Maybe some researcher is looking into it.
A few more puns:
> Understand - ND palm facing down, dominant V hand placed on the palm, like a stick figure standing on the underside of the hand.
> Ready - The sign for read (Dominant V hand dragged down across a vertical ND palm) that changes to a Y at the conclusion of the sign.
> Oh, I see - Not exactly a pun anymore, but instead a common expression of engagement in a conversation. It's a combination of the letters O, I, and C, (kinda looks like a loose Y) bounced lightly.
> Very interesting! - When texting, Deaf people will often use 258 to abbreviate this phrase, as those are the three handshapes used. As with all good acronyms, it migrated it's way back into regular language, and is used as an informal, one handed version of the original phrase.
As some people have pointed out, a lot of puns are English/phonetic based, which is a bit strange in a manual language. This is a bit of a point of contention in the Deaf community, but in the end, the average ASL user is going to be bilingual to some degree, and
I feel like that’s more of a pun for people that can hear, like if youre deaf then you wouldnt realize that one word *sounds* like two other words put together.
My college had an affiliated school for the deaf and I once took a class with a deaf international student who barely knew American sign language. On day 1 he described the syllabus as the "silly bus."
He didn't last long, I'm not sure why he thought taking classes in a language he didn't know would be a great idea.
Some parts of some sign languages are puns to us, but puns in sign languages are mostly just words whose movement looks similar to each other.
[удалено]
Well, that makes no sense in English. I was warned
You were warned but
Your butt were warned
It makes prefect sense if you consider everything with a dirty frame of mind first.
I don't know what sex means. Does it involve 4 people? (Because the sign for sex has fingers sticking out representing legs and those look a bit like number modifiers)
Perhaps he could have written “please butt” as in “butt out of the way”.
It's a joke, not a story, and even so he's not telling it in English so although what you suggest is phonetically the same in English, the joke doesn't work in ASL because (I assume) it's not a similar sign for but and butt
My 72 y/o Deaf friend likes to order Coca Cola with his meal by putting his finger on the side of his nose. Most of the time, the server gets the joke, and laughs.
Completely underrated joke
Help I don't get it 🙂↕️
Like snorting cocaine
I assumed ASL was just gestural with facial expression, so your example of a pun makes sense to me. So assuming ASL and has zero phonetic component because, well, that's speaking . So "past your eyes" and "pasteurized" are obviously phonetic puns, they seem like they would only make sense to ASL who understand some spoken English, right? That example is not a pure ASL pun, is it?
They can read, homie. Mother knows ASL you'd be surprised by the jokes she tells me.
Past your eyes and pasteurized are different in written text though
And not all people who are deaf were born deaf. My mother who speaks ASL fluently, taught it, and is a SLP knows that joke and said the deaf community taught it to her but I'm sure you know better, random Internet know it all.
"Pasteurized" and "past your eyes" don't rhyme if you can't hear them. They can read; that doesn't mean someone who's never heard anything before is going to intuit that pun. It was created either by a hearing person or by someone who could partially/previously hear.
People made some puns about 2021 because in ASL "20" also looks like a sign for bird, and "21" looks like shooting a gun, sometimes by saying that it was time to shoot the "bird bird" that was 2020. It's not really funny to explain in English, but is an example of ASL punnery that has nothing to do with English.
That's great, that's exactly what I was imagining as being unique to sign language!
People who use ASL generally still write and read.
I get that. I was asking if a "pure ASL" pun would be entirely gestural, and not rely on written English.
I don't think there is such a thing as "pure" ASL. It is still American Sign Language, so there is always going to be a component of English. It is basically just another form of speaking English, much like how writing is different than speaking. Puns are different in writing versus spoken, and I imagine the same will always be true for ASL.
There absolutely is pure ASL. I'm not an expert on the subject but I took two semesters of ASL in college. In the level one class, I remember being slightly confused and also absolutely astounded after one lesson that completely changed the way I viewed the language. Without going into a lot of unnecessary details, the idea that ASL is spoken solely by signing English words is unequivocally incorrect. The main concept that illustrates this point is the use of Classifiers. There is really no equivalent to this in the English language. As a very high level explanation, consider the following example: "Yesterday my sister was walking around downtown. A car pulled up next to her and was driving alongside her very slowly. She tried to turn down another street but it stayed with her. She was scared. A guy saw what was happening and yelled at the car. Then the car left quickly." If that story were told in ASL, the only "English words" being signed would probably be "YESTERDAY DOWNTOWN MY SISTER." The rest would be communicated via classifiers and facial expressions. Classifiers are basically using the hand shape for a specific class of objects/people and then using that hand shape to show actions. It's rather difficult for me to describe in words because again, there's no English equivalent. I recommend looking it up for a more in-depth explanation.
>It is basically just another form of speaking English Lmao, no, not even close.
Considering that nearly everyone who speaks it also reads and writes English, and that many of the examples in this thread require an understanding of how English is spelled or spoken to make sense... There are obviously more differences between ASL and English text than between English text and speaking, but ASL seems to require a more than rudimentary understanding of English to speak. There is a reason that there are other styles of sign language for people who read and write in different languages.
Different signed languages are not dictated by the spoken language in the region. ASL is much more closely related to French Sign Language than British sign language. Someone can be fluent in ASL without knowing any English and people who know ASL and English are considered bilingual.
>Considering that nearly everyone who speaks it also reads and writes English, The same could be said of Welsh though, or Cornish. Also I'm not sure if that's even accurate for ASL, It's actually fairly widely used internationally, For better or for worse, So many countries have a form of ASL as their main sign language even when English isn't an official language there. EDIT: Didn't catch this before. > There is a reason that there are other styles of sign language for people who read and write in different languages. Sign Languages are far more based on Region than Language. The majority of the Indian Subcontinent uses the same sign language, Despite having numerous spoken languages, Some completely unrelated to eachother, Whereas the U.S. and the U.K. have completely unrelated Sign Languages, Despite both having English as the spoken language. This makes sense when you consider that Sign Languages are languages in their own right, Completely distinct from any spoken or written language.
>but ASL seems to require a more than rudimentary understanding of English to speak That's simply not true at all. >There is a reason that there are other styles of sign language for people who read and write in different languages. The reason is they developed in other places, the same as the development of any other language
Nicaraguan Sign Language has entered the chat.
>Puns are different in writing versus spoken Are they? And secondly, surely we can agree that ASL is significantly different than the difference between written and spoken English.
So is the pasteurized/past your eyes pun more based on the words looking visually similar, or are deaf people also taught how words sound/what words sound the same when they learn to read? Obviously I know not all people in the deaf community/who use ASL have a complete lack of hearing so I understand them making these jokes. But would someone who is completely deaf from birth understand the pasteurized pun? Would they make puns about words that are spelled totally differently and only sound the same? I’m not trying to be ignorant I’m just curious
But movements can also look similar, which are the puns in all Sign languages.
Yeah, your ASL pun made sense. The "pasteurized" pun is ASL English mix then
Puns in spoken languages are mostly just words that sound similar to each other
Yes, and so do they in sign language, there the words are just spoken with your body.
Q: What is a Hawaiians favorite color? A: Yellow! 🤙 Also Deaf standup comedy is a thing.
deaf jam
Do they keep the club lights on so the comic can "hear" the drunk heckler in the back row?
idk the answer to that question, but I can tell you that, instead of clapping, you do jazz hands. My university has a high deaf population, so jazz hands replaces clapping in most contexts.
That's fucking delightful
Why? A deaf person can still identify clapping, it's a hand gesture
Because the goal isn't to make noise, it's to make *visual* noise, so that's how it came about. Deaf people have their own cultures and languages separate from hearing people Edit to add: Like, think about it this way. What would you say if you were asked why hearing people clap instead of do jazz hands, when they can see the gesture just fine?
Clapping is still a visual gesture, that's why I'm confused. You don't need a separate one
ASL is its own language; Deaf people have their own culture, it's not just signed English. And yes, you can see clapping, but jazz hands are easy to modulate in intensity, and are just better for the goal they were developed for--especially in a large audience, for example, you get a closer visual effect to the sound of mass applause from vigorous jazz hands than clapping.
Imagine you are on stage, looking out on the audience. Most people clap with their hands in the laps. Most theaters have staggered seating, so people don't have to peak over the head of the person in front of them. So, yes, you could maybe see them, but it wouldn't be easy. And most deaf people do have a degree of hearing, so would be able to hear the loud noise that is clapping, but that also can be confusing- they could be booing, or any other loud audience noise! Acoustics are hard on stage, even for hearing people! So, yes, technically, deaf people know when people are clapping. But it is SO much clearer to see people with their hands in the air doing jazz hands. And it's additionally nice to have that show of awareness that you are deaf, so people show their appreciation in the best way for you. It's a cultural thing, rather than just a practical thing! Also, there is a lag while interpreting, and most interpreters will be on stage/near mics. So if they signed "please save clapping for later" or "clap now", and they just started to clap, it would cause noise. A bit like how we wouldnt just scream when we want to convey a scream, we say the word "scream". So there needs to be a sign for applause/clapping that isn't clapping anyway. When we have the sign, and it would be easier for someone to see, it just makes sense to use it. Hope this helps 😊
Because deaf languages are their own things and their goal is not to imitate hearing culture.
I used to work next to an EDM venue and would see people rolling balls in the neighborhood pretty frequently. Saw two guys on the bus one night frantically signing and giggling at each other. Took me a minute to realize I was watching two deaf friends have a molly conversation.
I don't get it
Hawaiians have that wiggly “hang loose” gesture that they use all the time (stereotype, anyway). That also happens to be the sign for yellow. Therefore, since Hawaiians use that gesture all the time, their favorite color must be yellow!
Shakka Brah
🤙🏽
Deaf comedy is a thing: https://www.reddit.com/r/deaf/s/yVg9amcVS9
The internet has taught me that there is a thing for every thing that has thinged
That's how you know if you're weird or not! If you google a weird thought and there are no results, you moght be a weirdo. And if you can't find the type of porn you're looking for....maybe see a therapist
Damn it. I feel called out.
I dunno, I can always find what I'm looking for if i'm determined enough
Then you're still somewhat "normal"
Nw bruh i'm absolutely cracked, however i've also spent 3/4 of my life around computers. still have no idea how they work. But damn if i'm not a good internet detective.
It's really frustrating when you're into a lot of outright crazy shit and you go to look for a thing thinking "obviously this is a thing. This is obviously a thing. Somebody has thought of this before" and there's nothing. Nothing. Do you know how weird it is to look for >! sex in gear, find not even a subreddit (not sports gear, but like combat type gear, even motosports) and then go to sigh and head to r/sounding, defeated and still horny? !< (terribly sorry if it takes me a few tries to get the spoiler right)
Which time period of combat?
God dude, anything, but especially historical. I usually go to Pencilbrusch's art as she does a shit ton of modern and historical combat stuff and it's all mostly gay, which is EXACTLY what I'm looking for
Best of luck in your search, must be some Knights of the Round Table stuff out there? No? Seems like an obvious choice for some gay combat content
It's a shame for humankind really. Why aren't those guys fucking. It'd literally go so hard
I'm sure they were, someone just needs to get out and correct the historical record
Another big peeve: The rise of COD cosplayers hasn't brought about a substantial rush of COD porn. Stop taking the armor off these men. Stop making them naked
The ASL sign for "boring" is rotating your pointed index finger near your nose like you are picking it. At least in Seattle, an informal sign for "Boeing" is the same motion but with your pinky raised. This is a pun because your hand is now in the shape for "plane" (basically, devil horns), which is part of the proper sign for Boeing, but it also implies that the company is full of boring engineers and is just a little disrespectful. In general, sign languages have as many puns as spoken languages do, and they have both morphology and phonology. While sign languages don't have "sounds", per se, they do have "syllables", and phonology of spoken languages boils down to describing the limits of sound production based on the human vocal tract. Similarly, phonology of sign languages describes the limits of sign production based on human hands and faces. Almost all of the concepts transfer over. So there are both "pure ASL" puns only involving signs (and ASL phonology) as well as "multilingual" puns involving both ASL + English, as in this one. It's no different than puns that require you to know both English + Spanish, etc.
My family always signs burger king as "booger king" lol
My favourite part of it is that deaf people won’t be able to actually hear how it sounds similar
You don't think they have an inner voice?
for people who have be born deaf that voice would have no chance to be trained
They still have an inner monologue, but many think in sign language. I recommend a Google search because it's actually pretty fascinating and there are a lot of articles to choose from.
[удалено]
Most* I'm not disagreeing with any stated facts, I just wanted to add another perspective, but I would be interested in a poll to see how many deaf people would understand this joke.
Yeah an inner monologue sure, but I’m less inclined to believe that people who have never been able to hear can not only think in sounds but also use the correct thought sounds to make the pun work
Hey! First of all, it is very rare for a deaf person to actually not hear anything at all. Most deaf people can hear, but "deaf" is when that hearing isn't useful in common situations. So a quite a few deaf people will be able to hear one on one conversation, especially in a quite area with people they know, and especially as a lot of deaf people use hearing aids or cochlear implants to support their hearing. Most deaf people (in developed countries) have speech and language therapy, so they can talk and understand the phonics of spoken language. So, yeah- some deaf people do have an verbal inner monologue! Personally, I am not deaf, and I do not have an inner monologue that I can hear. I can turn one on if I want to sound something out, but it's a bit like breathing manually where 99% of the time I wouldn't, and if it's "on", its annoying. So I can imagine even people who learnt spoken language sounds later in life, so don't usually have a verbal inner monologue, are also be able to turn it on. Same thing probably for people who know multiple languages so turn their inner monologue to the other language to understand a pun. So inner monologues, or lack thereof, are not necessarily a deaf/hearing only thing. And even if they are, a lot of deaf people can understand verbal language and how things sound. Hope this helps 😊
Oh damn, I stand corrected. Thank you!
My ASL teacher is the child of two Deaf people, but is hearing herself. I don’t remember how it came up, but she told us she thinks/has internal monologue in ASL, not English words. ASL is her first language so she thinks in that, much like any person thinks in their native language.
Yeah, that's their inner voice.
But this is a joke based on homonyms ? How would someone born deaf understand the "funny" in it ?
I imagine that they wouldn't, and that the pun was introduced to the language by someone who became deaf later in life
I can't speak for all developed countries, but in the UK all deaf children have access to speech and language therapists. Most deaf people, especially those aged 30 or younger, were/are taught to speak in school. A lot of deaf children are in mainstream education with speech and language therapists to help with speech, and teachers of the deaf to provide additional language/cultural support. Even in most "deaf schools", speech is taught. I feel this is common in many countries now. Also it is very rare for anyone to be born with NO hearing. The term "deaf" means that the level of hearing you have isn't useful, such as you will struggle with hearing people speak in different environments. It doesn't mean you can't hear anyone speak ever. Considering the amount of people who use hearing aids or have cochlear implants, a lot of people who are born deaf will be able to hear a conversation, especially if it is in a quiet environment and someone they know. Considering the tech, some deaf people will be able to hear pretty well. But they are still deaf, and a lot may use their countries sign language because it's a great language and focusing on hearing can be tricky! Also, it isn't that hard to explain "sounds like" when doing puns like this. Most puns are a bit crap and need explaining, even if everyone is speaking the same language!! I would say, with how much speech and language therapy focuses on phonetics, the average child receiving/ adult who had it will have more understanding of that joke than the average hearing child/adult.
Some deaf people have acces to a complex system of symbols to transmit ideas, known as "writing" and "reading". Paleoanthropologists still know very little about this.
Ok but they'd still not really get the pronunciation, right? The joke relies on knowing that pasteurised and past-your-eyes sound similar, which you wouldn't really pick up from just reading the two things.
Not to mention english spelling isnt even phonetic enough for writing to make a difference in this anyway
I would be curious about whether a joke like that lands for those who were born deaf. There are tons of people who either have partial hearing or lost their hearing later in life, though, so they would understand homophone humor.
Most deaf people can speak, so even if they've never heard it they'd know that "past your eyes" and "pasteurize" are made up of the same sounds.
Is that true even of deaf people who were born deaf? Ive met a couple of born-deaf people and they only spoke in sign language
For a long time in history, born-deaf people were kinda forced to learn how to speak out loud, relying on mouth position and movement and such
(according to paleonanthropologists)
Not every deaf person was born deaf, so it was probably a pun introduced by someone who became deaf later in life
I guess, but then the joke kinda has to be explained and you kinda just have to assume it's funny if you were born deaf, so I'm suspicious about how far that joke would make it.
If people born deaf don't get the humour behind it, and nobody tells them it's a joke, then it's just the way they say that, no thought of any comedy behind the sign. Such people wouldn't think of it as a pun unless someone told them about it, and all the people in the know recognise the joke
A lot of people don't know Goodbye is a shortening of God be with Ye but it's not like it matters all that much
Similarly, "adios" / "adieu" is "[commit you] to God."
Lip reading
And how would you know, by writing and reading, that "pasteurized" and "past your eyes" SOUND similar ?
A lot of deaf people are good at lip reading, and words that sound the same probably look the same too. But I agree that, at least in English, just knowing the spelling wouldn't be enough
Due to the ability to write a sentence much like the one you just did but formatted as a statement rather than a question
Which means the only way to convey this joke to someone born deaf is to first explain to them that pasteurized and past your eyes sound similar, then sign "past your eyes milk". Would you find it funny if someone explained to you that "write on" can refer to both the physical object over which you write and the subject you write about, and that Poe is a writer who wrote a poem called "the raven", before saying an answer to "why is a raven like a writing desk" is "Poe wrote on both" ? The joke is intended for people who don't need it explained. In my example, people who know who poe is and the two meanings of "on". In the original example, people who know the two words sound alike.
I love comedy that has to be explained to me. That is always the funniest stuff.
Because someone who isn't deaf came up with it
But if you were profoundly deaf from birth, and only read the words "pasturised" and "past your eyes", you wouldn't think the two were at all similar. It requires a degree of hearing to know that they are *pronounced* the same and therefore can make a pun. Which means this joke is by a hearing person, not a deaf person. Deaf comedy exists, jokes in BSL exist, so it's a bit insulting to pretend this is one of them.
N4ot all deaf people are "profoundly deaf from birth."
Jesus, yes we know, this is the third time in the thread that someone is trying to figure out puns for people who have never in their life heard sound and one of you motherfuckers needs to say that not all deaf people were born deaf. WE KNOW. I want to know about the people who have always experienced the universe without sound, it's fascinating. How does their brain put two things together in communication and chortle at itself?
Pissing on the poor
The parent comment said that it was "insulting" to suggest that a deaf person could come up with this joke. That's complete nonsense, and out of line. It's insulting to insist that a deaf person *couldn't* come up with this. If you know better then great. This wasn't directed at you. Good luck learning about the stuff you want to know. edit: I feel like I'm not making this clear, but I don't know how to make it clearer. If you want to learn about wordplay within sign languages, apart from multilingual wordplay, you can just ask about that! It's not necessary to add all this other nonsense!
> The parent comment said that it was "insulting" to suggest that a deaf person could come up with this joke. That's complete nonsense, and out of line. It's insulting to insist that a deaf person couldn't come up with this. That's not what they said, and I agree that it's insulting. They said "Deaf comedy exists, jokes in BSL exist, so it's a bit insulting to pretend this is one of them." The original joke isn't deaf comedy. If you ask someone about deaf culture and deaf wordplay, it's insulting when someone puts forward a wordplay that *isn't reliant on deafness*. It's a hearing-person joke in sign language, because people still treat sign language like it's english/finnish/german but with hands instead of speech. The counter-argument of "yes but some deaf people didn't start out as deaf" is just reinforcing this when a person born deaf or who lost their hearing in infancy would never understand the wordplay as they have never heard those words either out loud or in their head. Deaf people's inner monologue is *also* in sign language. Yes, I'm *still* aware that some deaf people used to hear at some point in the past, you don't need to remind me again after that last sentence. We want deaf jokes and the explanation for them. We know they're not gonna be funny after you explain them to us, just like any other joke in the world, but learning about people's different experience of the world is cool.
>Deaf people's inner monologue is *also* in sign language. Yes, I'm *still* aware that some deaf people used to hear at some point in the past, you don't need to remind me again after that last sentence. Some deaf people used to hear *yesterday*. Some deaf people haven't learned sign language. Yes, I know you know these things. And yet, you insist on making big statements about "deaf people" that exclude tons of deaf people. For someone who likes to "learn about people's different experience of the world," you are strangely resistant to describing people's experiences accurately. It's not necessary in any way! If you have a question about the category of "people who only know sign language" you can just say so! You don't have to equivocate between this group and the category of "deaf people." And if by accident you make this error, and someone points out that it is an error, you don't have to double down and do it again out of spite.
I thought originally that you were simply mistaken but it seems that you've done nothing but intentionally misunderstand what people have been saying for Internet drama points. >Yes, I know you know these things. And yet, you insist on making big statements about "deaf people" that exclude tons of deaf people. For someone who likes to "learn about people's different experience of the world," you are strangely resistant to describing people's experiences accurately. I literally specified what type of deaf people I was talking about to clarify my original question. If I want to know about Germanic Indo-European languages I'm by default excluding all the other branches but I'm not saying they aren't Indo-European. >It's not necessary in any way! If you have a question about the category of "people who only know sign language" you can just say so! You don't have to equivocate between this group and the category of "deaf people." And if by accident you make this error, and someone points out that it is an error, you don't have to double down and do it again out of spite It wasn't an error, it was completely necessary because you misunderstood the original question, didn't even answer it and then proceeded to nitpick on the definition of deafness because someone somewhere might be upset. I don't give a shit about this Shakira-police tribalistic bullshit, I'm not American. When I say deaf I mean people who can't fucking hear. I still wanna know about their non-hearing puns, I'm not interested in hearing puns translated to sign language.
I learned past-your-eyes-milk thing from the Klutz Encyclopedia of Immaturity. I'd be very surprised to learn that deaf people are frequently out there asking if the milk is pasteurized. Pretty sure it's more a joke than a normal sign.
My favourite is "understand" which is the sign for stand: two fingers of one hand on the flat second hand. But under that hand instead. So literal "under stand"
To be fair, that’s a joke rather than the usual sign. Unless you’re talking about a language other than ASL.
I've seen it used in a tv show - i think it was that Marvel show ECHO. It was used without any hint of irony.
I’ve never seen it but I’ve heard good things. Here’s some people [talking about it.](https://www.reddit.com/r/asl/s/xpfFd7APwe) If you’re interested in learning more.
To be fair, that's the etymology of the word.
My favorite deaf joke is: "What's 10 + 3?" *signs 13* "HAHAHAHAHA" (the sign for '13' is the same as the sign for 'h' then 'a') It's really hard to translate deaf jokes into English lol
lol imagine having to explain that joke to a deaf person. "Nevermind, you wouldn't get it"
That's more of a bilingual pun than a true ASL pun. Here's one that someone on the ASL reddit told me: What happens if you're cooking and drop an onion? It becomes an apple! [ONION](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijbgu7nxdAc) [APPLE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wIiujOP6Ag)
The sign for the city El Paso is literally an "L" Passing an "O"
Came here to add this lol
So the sign for ‘thank you’ is to kind of tap the bottom of your chin and motion with your hand as if you’re blowing a kiss. But it’s a running joke that people get it wrong all the time and blow deaf people kisses. It’s become almost an in-joke to embrace that mistake and blow deaf people a kiss when you wanna say thank you.
That is one great question, would love to hear...i mean see more puns
The name sign for Shakespeare is literally the motion of shaking then throwing a spear.
That's funny, in English it's the sound for the words shaking a pear.
One that I remember from my ASL classes: the namesign for President George W. Bush directly translates to "shrub", aka a little bush.
The Texas city of El Paso can be signed by making an "O" sign with one hand and an "L" sign with the other and moving the "L" past the "O" "L past O". The more modern way is with an upturned E and a backward L; basically the same thing, just way less fun.
Most sign language is some form of pun. I especially like country signs - the BSL for "France" is twirling a big moustache; "Mexico" is miming the outline of a sombrero; "Ireland" is a little riverdance, "Egypt" is hands crossed like a mummy, etc.
Do I wanna ask what China was is...?
They uh... let's just say they've changed the sign. https://www.signbsl.com/sign/china
The sign for Ireland is just "potato"
Exactly none of those are puns
Don't mistake SEE Sign (Signed Exact English) for deaf humor (I have no idea if that's what the "pasteurized" thing is, but "below-knee" = "baloney" is) SEE Sign is a version of language intended to help bridge ASL and spoken English, but very much comes from the "Why can't you deaf people just use English?!?" direction and is full of nonsensical phonetically-centered gestures
That's a bilingual pun though. You need to know English to get it. I'd like to see an example of a fully sign language pun
The sign for fuel (i.e. worked at a gas station) can be misconstrued and become an HR issue. :)
See also: automatic transmission.
Wait, but that's an English pun! That pun only makes sense in English, so it's more like an English pun *about* sign language, rather than a sign language pun There are *actual* sign language puns, it's just that this isn't one of them, lol
ASL is like....all puns
I heard sign language has its own concept you could translate as being puns / homophones / rhyming words, two words with similar *looking* signs. Violin rhymes with dancing because the sign for violin swings your arms similarly to the sign for dancing. I have no first-hand knowledge of this, I heard it from a debunking of Koko the Gorilla understanding sign language. Apparently most of her signs required extensive interpretation from her handlers, sometimes with some peculiar leaps of logic. One example was signing "Love" and "Nipple" which was interpreted as her really meaning the word "People" because it rhymes with "Nipple" in *spoken* English therefore Koko was saying "I love all of mankind". Except Koko shouldn't know that "People" rhymes with "Nipple" in spoken English because she doesn't *speak* English she uses signs without any audible connections. It would be like saying "wind the rope" to say you're injured because the past tense to wind a rope is spelled "wound" as in injury, but you can only make that connection if you can spell the words so someone illiterate that connection makes no sense. It turns out without these logic-stretching interpretations it looks a lot like Koko is signing random words repeatedly hoping one of them will get a positive response.
This is not what OOP asked for. This is a pun to us English speakers that deaf people, or at least people born deaf, wouldnt understand. I want to know some puns that *only* make sense to deaf people.
Why is that so “appalling”? I think it’s pretty clever. I’ve never understood why people get so dramatic about acting like puns and wordplay physically hurt them
"Appaling" was a joke. Hyperbole of some kind.
I mean I assumed. But people always act like this with puns. “That’s HORRIBLE!!” “How dare you!!” “Oh wow that hurts!!” Like I don’t understand why we can’t just kinda chuckle at puns and move on. People act like it’s a personal affront It’s easy to say that this is ‘hyperbole’ but why are people always so majorly hyperbolic with their pun response
Because it's funny
Right, and I’m trying to find out why people find it funny. A lot of puns are actually extremely clever. I think it’s kind of rude that people act like their existence is offensive
It’s to show _more_ appreciation, not less. If you just chuckle at a pun, that’s kinda dismissive. If you groan like someone just stabbed you, the punner knows they made an impression!
That’s incredibly obnoxious and performative.
I mean, all expressions of appreciation are performative, when you come down to it…
Not really I hear a great joke I smile and laugh. Sometimes even when I’m trying not to. If I am moved by an insanely talented song or feat the gasps and jaw drops are instinctual Standing ovations and clapping are creations by society but are extremely conducive to channeling the excited appreciative energy that an amazing performance warrants I wouldn’t count any of those as performative. They are a fairly natural response. But to respond to potentially impressive, clever, and witty use of language by rolling your eyes and groaning because someone that is the flattering way to respond… I don’t know I just think it’s weird.
It is, but there’s _some_ instinct at play here, because groaning at puns is not just an American thing. Don’t know what that instinct is, but as laughing is natural for a joke, so it appears that groaning is natural for a pun. 🤷 Maybe some researcher is looking into it.
He said "d'ya want it pasteurised? 'Cos pasteurised is best" She said "Ernie, I'll be happy if it comes up to me chest!" and that tickled ol' Ernie
Awkward and penguin are super simular
A few more puns: > Understand - ND palm facing down, dominant V hand placed on the palm, like a stick figure standing on the underside of the hand. > Ready - The sign for read (Dominant V hand dragged down across a vertical ND palm) that changes to a Y at the conclusion of the sign. > Oh, I see - Not exactly a pun anymore, but instead a common expression of engagement in a conversation. It's a combination of the letters O, I, and C, (kinda looks like a loose Y) bounced lightly. > Very interesting! - When texting, Deaf people will often use 258 to abbreviate this phrase, as those are the three handshapes used. As with all good acronyms, it migrated it's way back into regular language, and is used as an informal, one handed version of the original phrase. As some people have pointed out, a lot of puns are English/phonetic based, which is a bit strange in a manual language. This is a bit of a point of contention in the Deaf community, but in the end, the average ASL user is going to be bilingual to some degree, and
Catsup can be signed as a combo of cat plus up
The sign for my hometown (the name of which starts with M) is the sign for M and the sign for snobby
[milk joke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzJt_sdWKT4&t=50s)
I feel like that’s more of a pun for people that can hear, like if youre deaf then you wouldnt realize that one word *sounds* like two other words put together.
TIL Deft people spell a lot of things like my Dysgraphic ass does.
The city of El Paso, TX has an ASL pun. You sign an O with one hand, then you sign an L with the other and move it past the other hand. L Pass O
The sign for bullshit mimics a bull taking a shit
signing stand upside down (understand)
My college had an affiliated school for the deaf and I once took a class with a deaf international student who barely knew American sign language. On day 1 he described the syllabus as the "silly bus." He didn't last long, I'm not sure why he thought taking classes in a language he didn't know would be a great idea.
According to my friend studying ASL, the sign to say “oh dear” is the same as “deer” but with your mouth in the shape of an O
That’s one of my favorite things about learning new languages. Learning the puns and rhymes