Fw: [USA-L News] British Deaf Association in controversial posterdrive

[Nancy Frishberg]

Following on Mark Mandel's explication:

>Richard Arnold writes:
>
>>>>>>
>So you Americans if you what to jerk off a Brit or Aussie you now know how
>to
>do it.
><<<<<
>
>Uhhh... but if you Brits and Aussies want to apologize to an American,
>don't say "Sorry, I didn't mean to jerk you off." Because that verb, here,
>means not 'anger (someone)' but 'masturbate' [transitive or intransitive]!

I only get 'male masturbation' as a reading for 'jerk off'.
Anyone else (using American or Australian English) differ?

And, like Dan, I have been advised that the middle-finger extended
verb in ASL is not necessarily as nasty as the comparable gesture
acccompanying speech (or substituting for speech) by hearing people,
making the translation task just that much more challenging.
--
Nancy Frishberg  +1 650.654.1948  nancyf at fishbird.com