The American Sign Language Phrase Book (44 page)

ASL does not have a sign for every color, so "beige" and "fuchsia" have to be fingerspelled. Colors such as "blue-green," however, may be signed by combining the two signs BLUE and GREEN.

Varying shades of colors can be signed by using the signs DARK and CLEAR. In this sense, CLEAR means "light."

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This is an example of the rhetorical question, where the signer asks, then answers, the question. It is used a great deal in ASL. There is a slight pause at the end of the question—after the sign WHO in this example—and then the answer is signed.