I'm going to share a few thoughts regarding kids, brats, children, and snotty
noses.
My comments are simply observations and can be considered merely "votes" toward
one usage or another. As always, if your local teacher wants you to sign a
certain way -- you should sign it that way until you get the grade you want --
then go out into the Deaf Community and sign the way you see signing being done
by local, socially active, adult, native Deaf signers.
1. CHILD is two pats on one head.
2. SHORT-[short-in-height] uses a single movement.
3. CHILDREN is signed with two pats each on a different head.
4. CHILDREN has a two-handed version and a one-handed version.
5. You do not need to sign CHILDREN with two hands unless you are implying a
large number of children or you are being dramatic.
4. KID/KIDS: The sign KID is an invariant noun (a noun that doesn't change form
when used as a plural). It becomes singular or plural based on context or
quantifiers. For example "THEY-[index-sweep-version] KID." can mean "Those
kids." However, the sign KID does tend to "lean toward" singular usage -- which
is to say if used without a quantifier the meaning of KID will typically default
to "kid" (not "kids").
5. KID is not the same as KID-[+facial-expression="brat"]. (Non-manual markers
can be used to derive new signs.) Adding an eye-roll, an exasperated facial
expression, or similar changes to KID creates a new meaning (such as
"childish"). Sliding the index finger (of the "horns handshape") out from under
the nose and flinging it can create a meaning of "snot nosed, inexperienced,
brat." The uninflected sign "KID" is less formal than CHILD in the same way that
the English word "kid" is less formal than the English word "child."
6. BRAT-[initialized-version] is likely to be considered "Signed English."
7. Some people express the concept of "brat" by signing "STUBBORN."
8. FINISH-YOU!-[1-handed]-[variable-facial-expression-to-inflect-for-affect] is
an ASL way of expressing the concept of "brat."
9. MISCHIEVOUS-[inflected] The sign MISCHIEVOUS can be inflected to indicate a
range of meanings such as: "someone is behaving naughty," a rascal, a hellion, a
scamp, and so forth.
10. There is no number ten. People just like lists of ten so I'm putting a
number 10. Whoops, I'm being a brat.
In regard to why an ASL teacher might encourage a beginning level student to
sign CHILDREN instead of KID -- it may have to do with the teacher wanting to
provide the student with a sign that is less likely to be misused (and cause
eyebrow-raises from Deaf people at Deaf events). The sign KID has an arguably
larger range of possible inflections (ranging from uninflected to offensive), a
level of ambiguity in regard to pluralization, and an etymology based on snot.
See: STUBBORN
See: FINISH
See: MISCHIEVOUS
Notes:
A person commented at the Lifeprint-ASLU Facebook group that her local teacher
told her to use CHILDREN instead of KID when asking "how many children do you
have" -- because KID (supposedly) carries a "brat" connotation.
Various members of the Lifeprint-ASLU Facebook group shared their observations:
* A commenter posted a version of BRAT that consisted of an initialized (with a
B) sign for KID.
* Commenter "E" shared: "I've seen BRAT with a B brushed emphatically
across the tip of the nose - almost like you're swatting a fly."
* Commenter "D" shared: "I sign [BRAT] that way (B brushed across tip of nose)
too, SW Louisiana and SE Texas"
* Commenter "S" shared: I used KID in ASL 1 and my teacher was ok with it. Used
KID in ASL 2 and my teacher said to use CHILDREN. I'm sure [KID and CHILDREN]
will both be acceptable in ASL 3. It just depends on the teacher. A lot of signs
I learned in 1, my teacher does a little different in 2. I'm wondering if the
age of the teacher is a reason. Like my 2 teacher is old school and my 1 teacher
was younger.
The point of the above information is to help students realize that there is a
lot of variety and not much agreement in the Deaf world as to exactly how we
should sign "brat."
Notes: