Notes: Many people start the sign "wet" by touching a loose "W"
handshape to the front of their chin. (A relaxed a modification of the sign
for water). But on compound signs like
"wet-wipes" you tend to drop parts of the two signs from which the compound is
made..
Optional reading:
In a message dated 10/19/2004 10:00:43 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
Dave______@cs.com writes:
I am wondering in what context would you use the term "wet wipes"?
Do
you use this term for when you would be talking about washing a car?
Thanks
Dave
Dave,
If and when you become a parent you will likely develop an appreciation
for the type of "wet wipe" to which I'm referring and the value of
keeping these items in the car. Heh.
The "washing a car" sign would be more like "wax on, wax off."
(If you have no clue what that means--just mime washing a car, and/or go
watch the
original "Karate Kid" movie.)
Regarding the practice sentence: "Do you keep wet wipes in the car?" For
most people the answer is simply "no." For parents of young children the
answer is often a greatly emphasized "yes."
Many, many people who are now taking ASL classes are doing so in order to
facilitate the language development of their babies. Such being the case
I have chosen to keep that phrase in the curriculum.
I'm not so much interested in the concept of "wet-wipe" but in the student
knowing there is a sign for "wet" (and its variations) and how it can be
combined with other concepts.
That particular sentence ("Do you keep wet wipes in the car?") is testing to see if students know the sign "keep." It
also requires students to think in ASL grammar instead of relying on the
English preposition "in." Also, it helps me to check if
the students are raising their eyebrows to indicate a "yes/no" type
sentence.
Cordially,
Dr. Bill