This is hopefully just a quick question. In my story I want a character to give a secret message to another character. I want to know if the sign I have come up with might already mean something. The character is right-handed if that makes any difference. Here is what I plan on doing: He placed his index finger over his heart and then moved it counterclockwise in a big circle, forming a ring around his heart. Thanks in advance for your help.
I had a thought. When I wanted to know some very specific Russian words, I found a Russian language learning forum after googling it and asked there. I googled sign language forum and found 2 on the first two pages, as well as a worldwide facebook group. Might be worth checking them out.
To my knowledge that doesn't mean anything in American Sign Language. (ASL) Take a look on YouTube @ Sean Forbes "watch these hands" one of my favourites ever.
Thanks! Looks like I might be able to use it without it turning out to mean something inappropriate. Will look into it some more before actually using it, though. Just to make sure.
Check out: www.aslpro.com It's not the greatest for finding out "does *this* mean anything?" but if you need a specific sign like "restaurant" or "garage" etc, you can look it up. There are slight regional differences. In my region we sign "soda pop" with the dominant hand middle finger going into the non-dominant hand's closed fist. Rising up out of the fist, spreading the fingers (so the middle finger is also splayed and not pointing down), and hitting the top of the closed fist. The video on the website shows the signer using the "ok" thumb and index finger (dominant) touching on the top of the closed fist, the index finger flicking out and then when the index finger is splayed out, coming down on top of the closed fist (non-dominant). Wow.....damn, I just realized how many words I used to describe that. I guess that's one way to pump up your word count. Lol.
I don't believe this sign means anything in ASL (I have taken some ASL classes), I haven't seen a sign like this one. Right handed and left handed is usually only a minor difference in ASL. If you're right handed you will sign a certain way and if you're left handed, it is more of a mirror of that if that seems to make any sense. Keep in mind if you do use ASL and you have a specific state/country that your character is in, the sign will generally vary. For example, the sign for "grass" is just that in most places, but in North Carolina, it means "truck." Some signs like chicken, sheep, brown, pizza, hungry, etc. can vary by location.
It is a sci-fi story and set in a planetary system of my own creation. And as the story is now there is no character that communicates through sign language. It does exist and the character uses this single sign to relay the message. Signs might not even show up in any other scene but this once the story is finished. Thanks for your help!