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From: James.Womack@f14.n300.z1.fidonet.org (James Womack)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: ASL lit.6
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Date: 16 Apr 91 20:29:44 GMT
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[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

Revell:  There are many legends about Dr. Peet, but one is
particularly funny and cute.  A student signed "F*** you" to Dr. Peet.
Dr. Peet asked the student what the sign meant.  The student said,
"Good morning".  So after that Dr. Peet said good mo rning to everyone
using the sign the student had used!

Sam:  There is another similar story.  Do you know the story about
anthropology?  (Sam used the sign "AUSTRALIA" for "anthropology".)  Do
you know the story behind the sign for anthropology?  Oh, wait, that's
not the right sign; it was the same sign as "DON'T KNOW" not
"AUSTRALIA".  A new professor was hired to teach anthropology to the
Gallaudet students.  Remember that most of the time the professors
arrive at Gallaudet knowing no sign language at all.  The professors
have PhDs so they are hir ed.  One day while teaching the professor
asked his students what the sign for anthropology was.  He
fingerspelled the word to them.  All of the students signed "DON'T
KNOW" so from that point on the professor used "DON'T KNOW" as the
sign for anthro pology.  That's a true story!  Isn't that interesting?
During the professor's lectures after that, the sign "DON'T KNOW" was
used for anthropology.  "DON'T KNOW" became the established sign for
anthropology and has been used as the sign ever since!  Really!  It's
a true story.
        That's a very short story, shorter than the other stories I've
 told you which are longer.  Stories come in different lengths.  Did
 you notice that some stories are only one or two sentences long,
 others are longer such as the motel story, and then there are other
 stories we have that are even longer.  There is a whole spectrum in
 length.
        Literature, any literature, exists so that it can be studied
and appreciated.  These are the two important purposes for having
literature.  Through literature, we can see, or perhaps hear, how a
language works and how a language is used.  We can look at how
language is used and develop a greater appreciation for the language
use.  Which aspects of the language use are interesting and which are
beautiful?

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