Remove using 5-hand or heel

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
December 14, 2006

HEEL OF HAND discussion...see Val's message below...

Adam Frost wrote:
> I can read the heel with more ease.
> Adam
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Adam Frost wrote:
> The longer heel is less confusing with the square.
> Adam

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Charles Butler wrote:
> Looking at it at first glance, it looks far too much like the thumb- 
> ASL-A hand, even though the split is different.  When I see an  
> angled finger on something that looks like a square, that?s an A,  
> whether a square or a short rectangle, and a short rectangle looks  
> like an A hand, not the long hand of a neutral flat hand.  Maybe in  
> writing it is more distinct but the computer makes them awfully  
> similar.
>  My quick thoughts.  My first guess was two A hands moving against  
> each other, which is not your intent.
>  Charles


Val's message...

The funny thing about this, Charles, is that you and I used to write  
the Heel of the Hand all the time, back in the 1980's. We just didn't  
call it that. At that time, we didn't have an Overhead View, or Top  
View. Before the Top View, we always wrote the Flat Hand from the  
Front View.

I remember it was a big adjustment for everyone to get used to the  
Top View, and we will always use the Top View for accurate writing  
and I think it works well. But there are a few rare signs, like the  
sign for BOAT, that is hard to see in the Top View, and for those  
rare signs, the Heel of the Hand (the Front View of the Flat Hand)  
has value.


Today we write the ASL sign for FINGERSPELLING like this, from the  
Top View:

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Back in the 1980's, we wrote the sign for FINGERSPELLLING in ASL like  
this, using the Heel of Hand symbol with spread fingers (the symbol  
back then was not quite as square...it was a little more like a  
rectangle...which I think we should try):

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So I propose that I make the Heel of Hand symbol a little more like a  
rectangle, like the one Adam said was less confusing, and maybe that  
will help? If it is more rectangular it cannot be confused with other  
symbols as much...

Stuart and Philippe...what are your opinions?

Val ;-)