Dirty Sign Language: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!" (Dirty Everyday Slang)

We’d like to thank Ryan Barrett (collaborative contributor), Amy Dignan, Angela Villareal, Camille Moreno, Kelli Wright, Lynn Jablonski, Malinda Tran, Michelle Albrecht, Michelle Kartheiser, Ruby Doerr, Sean Norman, Seth Farlin, Stephanie Uhren and many more...

USING THIS BOOK

This book was written with the assumption that you already have a good handle on sign language. If you failed to get the gist from the cover, this is a slang book, and the following pages won’t show you how to quickly sign “Where is the train station?” or “My name is Chad, what’s yours?” Chances are, you’ve learned quite a bit of sign language but nobody’s bothered to teach you how to tell the douchebag at the bar to “fuck off,” or how to inform your friend that his dick is abnormally small. If that’s just the book you’ve been looking for, you’ve found it! We’re about to school you on the most some useful words, phrases and curses that Thomas Gallaudet only wished he knew.

You might be wondering if this book covers all sign language dialects. While we’ve tried to gather the most common sign slang from around the country, we’ll be the first to admit that this guide has distinctly Chicago accent to it. Why? Because Chicago is awesome—it’s a huge, international city that revolutionized pizza and mobsters like New York never could—and packs a trendy, diverse community of hard-of-hearing people. It’s also where we live.

Unlike common foreign languages like Spanish, Mandarin or Luxembourgish, there’s really no universal form of sign language. The phrases and signs not only change from state to state, but city to city. So don’t be surprised if some of the terms in this book get you a laugh, get you laid or get you a punch in the face, and others just get you a blank stare and a “lost in translation” shrug. Just keep signing. After all, while there’s no better way to learn sign language than total immersion in a deaf community,
Dirty Sign Language
is a great place to develop the confidence to tell your new deaf friends that they “fucking rock.” So what are you waiting for? Go get your dirty on!

•••••Simple tips on signing

Wanna sign like a pro? Here are some basic tips to hold the attention of the people you’re signing to. Maintain eye contact so that it’s apparent who you’re chatting up; this also gives the recipient a clearer view of your lips (for lip-reading, of course). Speak while you sign; many deaf people also read lips, and when you’re a beginning signer, your deaf friends may be relying more on what you say than what you sign. Be sure you have enough space so you can freely move your arms and really get into the conversation without knocking things over. Be free with your emotions and really let them show; using facial expressions helps you get across the tone of what you’re saying when someone can’t hear your voice change in volume, pitch and cadence. Sit or stand face to face; signing is easier to understand when you are face to face than side to side. And finally, if you’re a beginner, take your time and sign clearly so your signs don’t blend together and become confusing.

All right, some of the basic rules may not work in practice. Like if you’re biking or kayaking, how the hell are you going to sit face to face? Just be sure you sign away from your body so you don’t block the view. Also keep it brief and concise; for God’s sake, you’re not gonna hold a debate on religion, politics or what the best TV show is unless you stop to talk.

MIX AND MATCH〉〉〉

This book is full of simple phrases that you can match up with different sentence endings so you can express yourself any way you want. When you seethe beginning of a phrase that ends with ellipses, it’s followed by a few options of how you would complete the sentence. For example, “I wanna...” might be followed by “...sleep,” “eat,” or “fuck.” With a few basics under your belt, you’ll never be at a loss for signs.

But the best way to get better and increase your vocabulary is to hang out with deaf people. So go party, have a pint, converse at lunch or play sports with a deaf person, or if you’re lucky, pick up a hot deafie and learn all the best dirty words while you do them!

THE ALPHABET