"you are a bum!"

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ASL_Impaired

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For my ASL mid term, I have to tell a story and then lead a discussion about it. At one point in the English version of my story, one person calls another person a bum. Can anyone give me advice as to what kind of an insult would be be good to use in the ASL version of my story? I don't want it to be a harsh insult, just something that would be acceptable for a children's story.
 
Funny that u asked...I was just telling a story to my students last week about that concept...I used the sign "lazy" instead of "bum"...looking back, I don't know why I did that. Maybe, a subconsicous part of me wanted to use a less insulting term?
 
since bums are associated with being lazy you can use lazy. I would sign it as YOU LAZY.
 
damn shel - me and you think too much alike, lol. :cheers:
 
Hmmm.... I'm not sure that would fit with the context of the story. In the story, a dragon burns up everything, takes the prince away, and then the princess tries to rescue him. Because he burns everything up, she has no clothes and has to wear a paper bag. When the prince sees her, he complains about the way she looks and is dressed and tells her to come back when she looks like a real princess. She then tells him how nice his hair and clothes are and then say "you look like a nice guy, but you are a bum!"
 
Then sign 'prick' lol just kidding.

I would probably say STUPID because in the story the prince makes a stupid mistake of not being nice to princess and then whe she is all dolled up then the prince wants her. The moral is - dont judge a person by their looks.

Reba or someone else may have a better suggestion.
 
ASL_Impaired said:
Hmmm.... I'm not sure that would fit with the context of the story. In the story, a dragon burns up everything, takes the prince away, and then the princess tries to rescue him. Because he burns everything up, she has no clothes and has to wear a paper bag. When the prince sees her, he complains about the way she looks and is dressed and tells her to come back when she looks like a real princess. She then tells him how nice his hair and clothes are and then say "you look like a nice guy, but you are a bum!"
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Why is the prince a bum? Is it because, as Dixie stated, stupid for not treating the princess nicely, cuz of the way he dress, or doesnt pick a finger up to do anything productive?
 
Hm... I guess I will just say stupid. Shel, I think that the prince is a "bum" because he's just not a nice person and he's stupid for not wanting the princess to save him, just because she wasn't dressed nice.
 
ASL_Impaired said:
Hm... I guess I will just say stupid. Shel, I think that the prince is a "bum" because he's just not a nice person and he's stupid for not wanting the princess to save him, just because she wasn't dressed nice.
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Hmm...I would sign "mean"?? what do u think?
 
I would sign PIG, the insulting way which has the dominant hand under the chin (like you're resting your chin on your hand) and then one quick flap upwards.
 
Interpretrator said:
I would sign PIG, the insulting way which has the dominant hand under the chin (like you're resting your chin on your hand) and then one quick flap upwards.
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I thought suggesting that but then I remembered it is a children's story so I would be careful with using that sign to represent "bum" cuz the children may not understand the fact that "pig" is used as a different concept other than the animal itself. That might confuse the children if they interpreted the sign as the actual pig rather than as describing someone's behavior or attitude.

It depends on the age and language level of the children. Mine wouldn't understand it since their language development is not at that level yet.
 
Then you could change it to "you look like a pig" or "you smell like a pig" or something like that.
 
shel90 said:
I thought suggesting that but then I remembered it is a children's story so I would be careful with using that sign to represent "bum" cuz the children may not understand the fact that "pig" is used as a different concept other than the animal itself. That might confuse the children if they interpreted the sign as the actual pig rather than as describing someone's behavior or attitude.

It depends on the age and language level of the children. Mine wouldn't understand it since their language development is not at that level yet.
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It is a children's story and I wanted to keep the feel of the story as such; however, the story will be told to a college class.
 
Well then sign something like YOU LOOK NICE, EXCEPT YOU SMELL LIKE PIG!

I think a room full of college students would get the concept with out getting too complicated with the signs.
 
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