ASL: "anthropology"
There are various ways to sign this concept.
A popular method of signing anthropology and that is to hold the
non-dominant index finger vertical and circle it with the STUDY sign.
ANTHROPOLOGY [study-person-version]
A version of "anthropology" that was fairly common for a significant length of
time and that you may still see used in the Deaf community consists of doing a flipping movement of the hand
at the forehead.
ANTHROPOLOGY:
Memory aid: Quite often if you ask someone how to sign "anthropology" they
will respond with the sign: I don't know.
Which is funny since the sign "anthropology" sign looks a lot like the sign for "don't know."
The difference
is that the sign for "anthropologist" starts an inch or two away
from the forehead, and then twists (in the air) and moves backward
to touch (or nearly touch) the forehead.
ANTHROPOLOGY:
To sign "Anthropologist" just an the "person" sign at the end of
anthropology:
This method of adding the "PERSON" sign "ANTHROPOLOGY" to create
anthropologist works for either version of anthropology.
Since you are on this page and have read this far it means you like the
topic of "anthropology" (ya nerd)* so I'm going to share with you a really cool and funny
"joke" sign version that you can use to impress folks with your wit and charm
when attending anthropology conventions. If you show it to your professor
you'll most likely get an "A" in class. If you show it to your boss you
will probably get a raise. Definitely worth knowing:
ANTHROPOLOGY-[joke-version]
This version is based on
BUG
THROW
SORRY
Which gives us: ANT+THROW+apOLOGY)
* Calling you a nerd is a huge compliment. Sort of like calling you intelligent
or smart. (But you already knew that because you are a nerd.)
Also see: "don't-KNOW"
Also see: "STUDY"
Notes:
Recently while going through comments at my "Signs" channel (over at Youtube) I
noticed a comment on one of the versions of a clip of "anthropology."
The person commented: "Wrong sign. Proper sign
several times as "I don't know."
I replied to the person:
A few thoughts for you to consider:
The clips on this channel are intended to be embedded into online lessons where
multiple variations are discussed.
The variation of "anthropology" that is similar to the "I don't know" sign can
be done either with one single movement or it can be done with two movements.
Over at www.spreadthesign.com in variation 2 of "anthropology" you will see the
sign anthropology being done using a single movement. (Not a double movement.)
See: https://media.spreadthesign.com/video/mp4/13/118547.mp4
Over at handspeak.com we see Jolanta (Deaf) doing the sign anthropology with a
single movement.
See: https://www.handspeak.com/word/search/index.php?id=7790
Lower down on that page you'll see the variation you suggest.
Over at ASLstem we see an example of anthropology being signed as an "A" hand
which changes into a "B" hand using the movement of "don't know" (but again, it
is a single not-repeated movement. See: https://aslstem.cs.washington.edu/topics/view/27
My point here is that I encourage people to be careful about claiming signs are
right or wrong until they have done a bit of research.
In this case I'm quite confident that the version I'm showing (using a single
movement) is well-established.
There is also another "emerging" sign for anthropology that I very much like
that is based on using the sign STUDY and pointing it at the non-dominant "1"
hand then circling the sign STUDY around the non-dominant "1" hand as if to
represent "studying of a person."
*
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