What is idiot in sign language?

Answer 1

The answer below refers to American Sign Language, and should not be misconstrued to refer to other sign languages.

In American Sign Language, the sign for idiot is an initialized sign similar to the sign for Dumb or Loser (as in the demeaning expression). You may already be familiar of the sign for "loser", which is "the shape of L, with a finger and" your "thumb on your forehead." Yes, that song by Smashmouth refers to a modern cultural sign that originated as an ASL sign... Replace this with an "I" or "i" hand-shape and you have the sign for "idiot"... in this sign, the thumb touches the forehead, and the palm for a right handed signer faces left, and for a left handed signer faces right. Of course, remember that ASL is a conceptual and contextual language. There may times when you should translate the English word "idiot" as the "Dumb" sign. In general the concept sign for Idiot remains the "Dumb" sign.

(Remember to repeat the movement for noun verb pairs... as a general rule signs for "nouns" (of noun/verb pairs)have a double movement, except when pluralized, and signs for verbs (of noun/verb pairs) have a single movement. Though this is not always the case, it is best to remember this rule when learning to sign.) In this case, repeating the sign more than once that is, would mean "idiots" as in more than one idiot. You should not sign "You Idiot+Idiot+Idiot", but if you only repeated the action once "You Idiot+Idiot" you are technically incorrect, but more correct than the former. Why? Because you are using the repeating syntax for a noun verb pair for a noun that does not have a verb pair... though I have seen the single motion version of this sign to mean "idiotic" as an adjective in some settings. Also if you want to use idiot as an adjective as in Idiotic, in most cases in ASL the adjective FOLLOWS the noun, just as it does in Spanish. Thus "You are the most idiotic boy I have ever seen!" in ASL may be translated like this: "YOU-BOY-YOU IDIOTIC{i.e. the idiot sign} MOST, ME-HAVE-SEEN-ME ALWAYS EVER!"

Sign Origin: Did you know sign for "Dumb"/"Dunce", was invented by a Deaf student with the intended connotation of "Knuckle-head?" Depending on the context, you may still translate the expression "knuckle-head" with the sign for "Dumb."

To sign "You are an idiot" There are different ways to do this, and this will greatly depend on the context you are trying to show.

To sign "you" you point at the person, your index finger pointing out horizontally. The three fingers "pointing back at you" so to speak, should be resting against the inside of your palm. The thumb should be either over the knuckes, or resting on the back of the index finger. Either way, the thumb should be down. You do not necessarily have to sign the sign for the word "are" if you are using this in the present tense with someone. Instead, in ASL you would say YOU-IDIOT-YOU, and nod your head. The nodding is considered a non-manual sign in ASL for declaritive sentence or agreement sentence structures. You may also sign YOU-IDIOT, or if you are wanting to sign a Signed Exact English interpretation you may sign YOU ARE *A-N(fingerspelled) IDIOT.

*There is a sign for "AN" in ASL, but it is difficult to explain in text as it closely resembles the sign for "N", except a slightly different motion. I recommend, for now, beginning signers finger-spell the words "A", "AN", and "THE"

*The sign for ARE/AM/IS (or at least one of the primary signs for these words) is similar to the sign for "Truth, True, Absolutely" except with a downward arc. It is a forefinger at the base of the side of your lower lip, motion it in a downward arc, but be careful not to point at the person, unless your next word in the sentence structure is "YOU." Many people confuse these two signs, which is why some people initialize the sign for "ARE" with an "R" hand-shape. Remember though, that the sign for ARE has a downward arc, and the sign for TRUE/TRUTH/ABSOLUTELY has a straightforward motion.

Answer 2

To sign "idiot" in American Sign Language (ASL), you would fingerspell the letters I-D-I-O-T. It is important to remember to use respectful language when communicating with others.