Put the blame on me ;-)
Alan Post
alanpost at SUNFLOWERRIVER.ORG
Wed Sep 14 14:32:10 UTC 2011
I would ilke to articulate my perspective on this issue.
When discussing corner cases or inconsistencies in the writing
system, I have one need above all others:
No matter how inconsistent, incomprehensible, or special-case
SignWriting is, I really really really really need it to be
stable. I want to write a document and file it away, dig it
up years and years (and years!) later and have it still be a
valid document.
I imagine the urge to tweak any project is huge. I'm reminded of
the idiom "Real Artists Ship." At some point, you just have to
put something out there to be used, let it be "rough" and forgive
your past self for your lack of insight. You have to rely on the
choices your past self made, even if your current self or others
don't *like* those choices. Even if they become badly the wrong
choice!
That a choice was made and I can reasonably assume it's set in stone
is more important to me than *what* the choice was.
I do fully support the full expressiveness of the alphabet,
including variation for artistic, personal, or whatever choice.
Please use SignWriting with me!
I've decided to learn SignWriting as written in the manuals, regardless
of whether I think it could be done better. That a decision was made
that I can count on staying made is my most important thing.
I have struggled just to keep up with the changes to SWIS and
ISWA--I've had to convert my database three or four times, which
sometimes takes me many months to get around to--during which I
don't use SignWriting. :-(
I *love* SWIS2. I am producing documents with it that are so, so
beautiful compared to SWIS. I don't wish to complain about where
we are, but to articulate just how expensive changes are, to me.
Even seemingly minor issues can be major headaches for me--I would
much rather be in the business of *using* SignWriting!
Thank each of you for your involvement and contribution to
SignWriting--for making it your own and contributing your individual
spirits to our shared history. I will let the past have its fun,
and seeing it through the lens of this moment, let the inconsistencies
and oddities we find be fascinating! How wonderful, great, and
silly the gifts our past selves gave us are. Let us create with
them!
-Alan
On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 07:45:45PM +0200, Stefan Wöhrmann wrote:
> Hello Valerie and friends of the sw-list,
>
>
>
> I am so sorry to read this comment. Sounds as if you feel hurt Valerie.
> Just want to make clear - it is not my intention to cause any trouble!
> And I am convinced that it is not Charles idea to blame anybody but to
> discuss a spelling issue.
>
>
>
> On the other side - it is an excellent chance to discuss the use and
> meaning of the SW symbols.
>
>
>
> I know that you do not want your students to follow in blind obedience ...
> Insight is helpful to teach the system that has been invented by YOU.
>
>
>
> What is going on right now?
>
>
>
> Obviously we try to reopen the same discussion we have had so many times
> before. - smile -
>
>
>
> What is to be done if you decide to publish a specific spelling as the
> "correct" one - while at the same moment scribes with experience feel
> uncomfortable with this definition.
>
>
>
> Of course I can continue to write my documents and dictionary entries the
> way I used to do - following the "thumb-rule" which makes sense to me and
> which can be seen throughout the whole system as a consistent aspect. And
> I know that you do not panic to see spellings you experience different
> from your favourite options.
>
>
>
> On the other hand - what is the idea of using symbols in a writing system.
> There should be a chance to read, to understand to identify clearly what
> is meant.
>
>
>
> As I mentioned before - looking at my hand - palm to the face - there is
> no chance to understand the spelling if you put the thumb on the left
> side. I would identify this as a l e f t hand.
>
>
>
> See attached graphic - kind of test for SignWriting students. The
> question would be: What is the correct spelling for the hands as shown on
> the fotos? A, B, C, D
>
>
>
>
>
> Stefan
>
>
>
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>
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>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Von: SignWriting List: Read and Write Sign Languages
> [mailto:SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU] Im Auftrag von Valerie Sutton
> Gesendet: Montag, 12. September 2011 23:12
> An: SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU
> Betreff: Put the blame on me ;-)
>
>
>
> Charles -
>
> Put the blame on me, but don't blame Adam, who is working with me - He is
> a wonderful part of my family...has helped me and my family in so many
> ways -
>
>
>
> Of course my writing is inconsistent - so just put the blame on me -
>
>
>
> Writing the palm of the hand towards the center of the face is what we
> were talking about with the sign for CLOWN, and what you see on the web is
> my writing...
>
>
>
> and the sign for BUG, which is the side view of the hand, is another
> situation and different than the white palm toward the face - and that is
> my writing too -
>
>
>
> so there you see it is my fault and not Adam's!
>
>
>
> Val ;-)
>
>
>
> -----------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sep 12, 2011, at 12:03 PM, Charles Butler wrote:
>
> Adam, Stefan, Valerie, et al.
>
>
>
> The fact that you and Valerie agree in what I must strongly DISAGREE is
> exactly the point. You have published, in a book, something that is
> counter-intuitive.
>
>
>
> If you overlay the symbol on the hand it DOES NOT MATCH. No matter what
> you do, the THUMB is on the right not on the left.
>
>
>
> I must respectfully disagree with you, Adam, and agree with Stefan and Mr.
> Parkhurst.
>
>
>
> I follow the orientation of the hand first. Is it toward me or away from
> me.
>
>
>
> If it is away from me, then the thumb MUST be on the actual hand as the
> photo is, but not as the drawing. If it looks awkward, I would put the
> hand directly over the face so that it would lay on top of it, which is
> the whole point of the clown face, it lays on top of the face, not to one
> side or the other. Then one can clearly see which hand it is, that the
> orientation is wrong.
>
>
>
> Quoting your published notebook is EXACTLY the point. I disagree to the
> point that I would edit that textbook marking it wrong if it came across
> my publishing house in sign writing to publish. I did it in Brazil any
> number of times until they got the point. Don't make a sign identical with
> its mirror image, it simply ISN'T.
>
>
>
> The fact that I rotate this same hand around and it now is exactly the
> same glyph when pointed in the opposite direction is just plain wrong. It
> is not a disagreement, it makes no logical sense, the grasp is happening
> in the opposite direction. You have rotated the hand, it cannot grasp left
> and right the same way. I have two hands, they are mirror images of each
> other. A grasp with one away must be the same glyph as the other pointed
> toward me.
>
>
>
> I go for awkward writing and consistency every time. You showed that with
> "crumble". The hands are up there, and the thumbs are on the outside. You
> admit it there, so your argument is inconsistent.
>
>
>
> You can write it in a textbook any way you want to, that does not make it
> any less WRONG. I cannot teach this, I cannot bend my mind around it. It
> does not make intuitive sense. Two orientations, no matter WHAT fingers
> are involved cannot be the same glyph.
>
>
>
> I will continue to teach, and point out that the software is wrong. It is
> software, and it NEEDS to be fixed.
>
>
>
> You are working with educators, and I think that the educators who are NOT
> just "shrug and make it go away" are on the better side. When they work
> with Deaf students in classrooms and get the same questions every day, I
> think the educators know more than the software.
>
>
>
> If I were in your classroom, Adam, I would contradict you at every "turn"
> as it is not logical and I cannot bring myself to write what is simply
> wrong. I would strongly disagree, and Valerie knows it. I don't buy the
> "grasp" logic as I'd rather write the sign on the opposite side.
>
>
>
> If the sign for Clown, Cockroach and Bug are compared, it is clear that
> COCKROACH (written by me) shows the right hand on the left side of the
> body, with the correct orientation, it is still the right hand, rotated 45
> degrees with the left hand rotated 45 degrees and the hands crossed. BUG
> is the right hand at the halfway point so that the thumb presses the nose
> (written by VALERIE using her own textbook notes to move the hand until
> the features line up) so your argument simply does not hold water.
>
>
>
> When the inventor of the system has to put the right hand on the left side
> of the body so that a simple orientation rule does not get violated, I
> think that the orientation we have proposed is the better one. She makes
> sure that the thumb STAYS on the right place, sticking out so it should
> stay there.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Charles
>
>
>
> --- On Mon, 9/12/11, Stefan Woehrmann <[1]stefanwoehrmann at GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
>
> From: Stefan Woehrmann <[2]stefanwoehrmann at GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
> Subject: AW: NEW: Clown correction
> To: [3]SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU
> Date: Monday, September 12, 2011, 2:08 PM
>
> Hi Charles, Valerie, Adam and friends,
>
>
>
> well - this has been a v e r y intense discussion in the past. From
> time to time it became an emotional discussion.
>
>
>
> Now looking at your wonderful book about hand shapes and their matching
> symbols, I felt pretty much disappointed and confused to find some symbols
> with this kind of interpretation, violating my intuitive understanding of
> the "thumb-rule"
>
> I do not agree with your idea of how the hand looks like. I do not follow
> your point of view.
>
> Why ? Well Charles explained the point of view I understand best. And if
> you would look at the good old "Lessons in SignWriting" second edition
> page 36 you will understand - that at least some of us "old scribes"
> prefer the thumb to be seen where it belongs ... right thumb right side
> of the symbol.
>
>
>
> The whole confusion is connected to the fact that originally there have
> been more but three basic orientations. I discussed it several times and
> have had a hard time to explain my doubts and ideas about different
> interpretations.
>
>
>
> This discussion came up several times in the past. It is a pity that
> people feel frustrated to accept the use of symbols if it does not go
> along with their understanding. But I can understand the feeling of
> irritation. Personally I follow Valeries advice to write my documents the
> way I think it feels best to my understanding. And of course - I do no
> teach these symbols in question the way they are shown in this list
> because my brain refuses to accept the logic you try to explain. I simply
> do not see, what you would like me to see. I can't - no matter how intense
> I try.
>
>
>
> I agree that sometimes the fingers or the thumb on the right side touching
> the nose or the ear are somehow funny - but at least this kind of
> representation does not hurt the general concept: write what you see.
>
>
>
> Personally I would not write the sign for clown with this "left hand" -
> smile (I understand that you - Adam and Valerie can see this hand as a
> "right hand" - but I cannot.
>
>
>
> Same problem with some other symbols for hand shapes ;-( and this
> "direction of fingers is important"- idea - I do not agree with that
> either.
>
>
>
>
>
> When I started to "learn" the meaning of SW-symbols 11 years ago, I
> followed the Parkhurst interpretation. It made absolute sense to me and
> everything seemed to be consistent.
>
>
>
> So now we can restart to understand that there are at least two different
> "schools" to use some symbols differently. It might be worth to just have
> a table showing a given symbol from the two points of view - this would
> not blame anybody but give a chance to accept what is going on - We do not
> follow the same way of thinking.
>
>
>
> Stefan
>
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Von: SignWriting List: Read and Write Sign Languages
> [mailto:SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU] Im Auftrag von Adam Frost
> Gesendet: Montag, 12. September 2011 18:30
> An: [4]SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU
> Betreff: Re: NEW: Clown correction
>
>
>
> I'm assuming the sign you are referring to is:
>
>
>
>
>
> While I personally don't do it with this down movement, we aren't talking
> about that at the moment. ;-)
>
>
>
> Technically speaking, the hand symbol is the correct one for what the
> symbol was intended to mean. If you look at the book that Val and I just
> wrote, the image of my hand and the symbol match.
>
>
>
>
>
> I know that the thumb seems to be on the wrong side; so do the fingers.
> There is a reason for that. This isn't official because I need to test it,
> but from personal observation I have found that when a handshape has the
> thumb interacting with the other fingers (ie as if it can hold a physical
> object), the symbol construction points the fingers to the center of the
> body and is static and does not rotate like most of the other symbols. So
> this hand symbol falls in that category.
>
>
>
> Now, my understanding is that there are some who say that these hand
> symbols should rotate just like the other symbols. That means this writing
> of clown should be:
>
>
>
>
>
> The problem is that since the hand is on the left side of the face, many
> readers feel that is for the left hand as opposed to the right hand. That
> is the reason all those symbols were made static and not rotate like the
> rest.
>
>
>
> I hope this helps clarify why the hand symbol used is actually not wrong.
>
>
>
> Adam
>
>
>
> On Sep 12, 2011, at 9:00 AM, Charles Butler wrote:
>
>
>
> Please look at "CLOWN" on the ASL Sign Puddle.
>
>
>
> The fingers point to the right and the hand is white, therefore it is the
> left hand, yet the arrows indicate the right hand. if you turn it at a
> slight angle then the thumb is clearly on the wrong side, pointing up the
> axle on the left side of the square. This, to me, is the easiest test.
>
>
>
> If I were to see this sign in an ASL SW exam I would mark it wrong. This
> is not a matter of "variant" this is simply wrong.
>
>
>
> If I cannot mark a test unambiguously then there is something wrong. The
> hand is not "pinching the nose" from the side it is "facing the nose".
>
>
>
> As I can't edit it, I can't fix it.
>
>
>
> Charles Butler
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> References
>
> Visible links
> 1. mailto:stefanwoehrmann at googlemail.com
> 2. mailto:stefanwoehrmann at googlemail.com
> 3. mailto:SW-L at listserv.valenciacollege.edu
> 4. mailto:SW-L at listserv.valenciacollege.edu
--
.i ma'a lo bradi cu penmi gi'e du
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