A vocational rehabilitation counselor from
Arizona writes:
<< Dr. Bill,
I have another sign question: "ABSENT" I have seen "absent" done
with the non-dominant hand in the "25" position, palm down. The
dominant hand pointer finger moves backward and flicks the middle
finger of the non-dominant hand. Is that a widely acceptable sign
for absent?
- Dawn >>
Dawn,
The sign to which you are referring is: SKIP
which is good for playing hooky and or "skipping" a meeting (or a
class at school). To me, the sign SKIP implies that the person
doing the "skipping" had quite a bit of choice regarding showing up
(in the classroom or meeting) or not.
The sign GONE works
well for a general "absent / gone / not here" sign.
However, for what it is worth, I think it is okay to use the "SKIP"
sign as the general equivalent of "absent" when you are referring to
students who are "not in class." I was recently chatting with a
student and she mentioned that her former ASL teacher
consistently used "SKIP" to mean "absent" (or at least "not in
class").
I still feel
though that the SKIP sign still implies a bit more "intent" than
simply being GONE. However it is obvious that quite a few people
(including many ASL instructors) don't make that distinction.
For example I would not use the sign GONE to indicate that I'm
planning on not attending a meeting in the future.
I would not sign, TOMORROW I GONE MEETING.
Instead I would sign: TOMORROW I SKIP MEETING.
- Dr. Bill
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