Talk:Profanity in American Sign Language

Merge proposal
Personally, I don't thinks this article really has a place unless there is some scholarly context attached to it. That is, certain "curses" in ASL are viewed differently by Deaf native signers than by non native users. In discussions I've had with people, certain signs we might consider "bad" if a child spoke them would not necessarily be taken as "bad" if a child signed it in the right context. As someone else stated, attention should be paid not only to an inventory of ASL profanity, but to the cultural implications that surround profanity. Things such as regionalism, context, frequency of use, etc. should all be discussed. The current article is insufficient and seems rather childish. As it stands now, it's a list of "bad signs," that's it.

I don't believe this subject really needs its own article. It should be merged with American Sign Language. Gregmg 20:46, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

There is an article for Profanity in Spanish, so I think that there can be an article for Profanity in ASL. David G Brault 15:50, 25 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't think Spanish Profanity needs an article of its own either. I may propose that it be merged as well. Gregmg 02:37, 26 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Perhaps this information should not be in such an encyclopaedic article, hmm? I know that I would not want to find information on how to curse in ASL within the primary article itself.  The content of this article seems to be of an instructive manner, rather than informative, as should be an encyclopaedia. - Tom Tolnam 01:07, 3 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I've removed the merge template. After nearly 8 months, it doesn't seem that there has been much interest in merging. No reason to leave the template in place indefinitely. Gregmg 20:13, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Regional variations
I am wondering if the fuck "FK" is regional? I have never seen that, but you also failed to mention the fuck with the two "v" handshapes hitting eachother palm to palm. There are probably about a thousand more that could be disscussed as well.


 * That sign (two v's hitting each other) refers to the act of fucking, not the expletive. Taboo, but not necessarily "fuck you", whereas FK is, I think.  Using fists might be used as the expletive in some places, though.  18.96.7.58 05:04, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Etymology/Derivation of signs
Reading the descriptions of the signs for "bitch" and "bastard," it occurred to me that the former seems to derive from "b" + "woman/female" while the latter derives from "b" + "man/male." Can anyone fully knowledgable of ASL verify this? Throbert McGee 07:30, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Deletion of the sign for "Vagina"
Since when is the word "vagina" a profanity? Also if you consider "vagina" to be a profane word, why isn't "penis" on this list as well? I would also agree that this article does not have a place without scholarly context. AMG 04-27-2009

Revise "Bullshit"
While bullshit may have not originally been a sign in ASL, it is now widely used in the Deaf community and has been incorporated as an ASL sign. 216.53.183.60 (talk) 19:14, 18 July 2015 (UTC)