My Girlfriend is fluent in sign language and she showed me the sign for
unicycle, which she said literally meant “clown bike.” 
-Dylan
can u decribe the sign?
or post a pic of how it is signed?
Re: Sign Language Translation of Unicycle
here’s my shot at trying to describe it:
You first put your right hand over your nose, in a loose kind of fist, with
your finger tips around your nose, to symbolise a clown’s nose. Then, you move
your hands in front of you, as if you were pedaling a bike with your hands…
“clown bike”
I hope this makes sense, I’ll try to post some pictures later…
-Dylan
RE: Sign Language Translation of Unicycle
Thanks for letting us know. There’s QuickTime movies for clown and bike in
sign @
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/C/W0659.htm
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/B/W0386.htm
Cheers,
Neil
-----Original Message-----
From: rsu-admin@unicycling.org [mailto:rsu-admin@unicycling.org]On Behalf Of
Dylan Wallinger
Sent: 27 June 2002 10:00
To: rsu@unicycling.org
Subject: Re: Sign Language Translation of Unicycle
here’s my shot at trying to describe it:
You first put your right hand over your nose, in a loose kind of fist, with
your finger tips around your nose, to symbolise a clown’s nose. Then, you
move
your hands in front of you, as if you were pedaling a bike with your
hands…
“clown bike”
I hope this makes sense, I’ll try to post some pictures later…
-Dylan
rec.sport.unicycling mailing list - www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu
RE: Sign Language Translation of Unicycle
> My Girlfriend is fluent in sign language and she showed me
> the sign for unicycle, which she said literally meant
> “clown bike.”
Sign language where? It’s different for nearly every country. In the USA
it’s American Sign Language (ASL), which has very little in common with the
form used in England. Then even within ASL there are a lot of regional and
local differences. So don’t feel bad.
Plus, the “clown bike” sign may not have any claim on being an “official”
part of the language.
My ASL name-sign is two hands making the letter J, rotating like pedals.
This was made up for me by the (deaf) people around me when I first got
involved with Jacquie. I am still quite a lame signer myself, and I can’t
remember if there is an “official” ASL sign for unicycle, or what the people
use locally.
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com <http://www.unicycling.com>
“This unicycle is made all from lightweight materials. But it uses a lot of
them.” – Cliff Cordy, describing the very heavy new prototype unicycle he
brought on the Downieville Downhill
RE: Sign Language Translation of Unicycle
Okay, some feedback from people who use ASL every day:
There is probably no “official” sign for unicycle. I don’t know how signs
get made “official” or even how to define that. But the same is true for
most spoken languages. They don’t have official words for unicycle either.
When I went to Denmark in 1983, I visited with Jean Ascher. When asked how
to say unicycle in Dansk he told me there were three possibilities. Which
was the main, or official one, I asked? He said there wasn’t one. Well, if
anyone’s going to make an official one it should be you. He was the biggest
unicycling promoter I knew of at the time there, and was later an IUF
director.
I think he settled on “unicykel” (pronounced “ooonie-sooogle”). I wonder if
it caught on?
Back to ASL, if there is no universally accepted sign for unicycle, it
should be up to the deaf unicyclists to determine this. I don’t know that
many, though there is Pinky Aiello in Southern CA, who has been riding since
she was a kid. The deaf unicyclists in Sacramento are all kids, and all
beginners.
But the local deaf community offers two possible signs, neither of which
include the direct sign for “bicycle”:
-
Do the sign for bicycle, with index fingers pointed inward to indicate
the number one. -
Point one index finger straight up. With the other hand, make a V with
the first two fingers, pointing downward over the finger from the other
hand. Pedal the two fingers like a guy on a unicycle.
So those two are used, at least around Sacramento. The top one is the one I
prefer.
“Clown bike” is something like the Coker Mini Monster
(http://tinyurl.com/6mt). I would accept that sign for one of those. It’s
not very accurate for a non-bike, especially for us non-clowns.
The Web site someone offered earlier is an excellent way to look up common
signs:
Thanks for posting that!
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
“This unicycle is made all from lightweight materials. But it uses a lot of
them.” – Cliff Cordy, describing the very heavy new prototype unicycle he
brought on the Downieville Downhill
Re: Sign Language Translation of Unicycle
> Sign language where? It’s different for nearly every country. In the USA
> it’s American Sign Language (ASL), which has very little in common with
the
> form used in England.
Here in Italy there is LIS, “Lingua Italiana dei Segni”, to which ASL
for historical reasons is more similar than British Sign Language. I’ve
studied it for three years, mainly to learn some new bad sign to address to
undisciplined car drivers ;D.
> Plus, the “clown bike” sign may not have any claim on being an “official”
> part of the language.
Neither here; there are very different dialectal varieties, and surely,
since even hearing (ignorant) people call unicycle “biciclettina” (little
bike), there’s no official sign for it (yet).
A spontaneous sign when I periphrastically described a unicycle
/two-wheels, NO: one!/ my deaf teacher did was: /dominant hand on crotch,
“A” or “S” shaped (A is is a closed fist, thumb outside, S has thumbover the
closed fingers) grabbing something there; followed by the pedalling sign,
with the two variations of configuration, A (ditto) or Y (thumb and little
finger extended)/, with a “wobbling” facial component…
There are many different sign languages. Most languages have a sign language and there are regional variations of them. Some cultures have them as well. (Inuit/six nations).
I haven’t seen a sign for unicycle. I’ve seen an expansion describing a unicycle and then using a finger spell loan of U-N-I when continuing to describe the unicyucle.
Describing the movement of the uni(ie. describing a trick) using the F hand shape where the 3 fingers are parallel with the ground. Check out
for some ASL and Deaf info.
Re: Sign Language Translation of Unicycle
Dylan Wallinger <extremeunicycler@aol.com> wrote:
> My Girlfriend is fluent in sign language and she showed me the sign for
> unicycle, which she said literally meant “clown bike.”
Depend on where you live tho. when paul and I were signing regulary in
North Yorkshire UK, the sign for unicycle was R. 1st Finger, pointed up,
then turned sideways pointing left and used to describe a circle. So a
sort of contracting of One , wheel . Its a bit like the “cycle” sign as
well, tho that used two hands,descirbing circles like pedals.
This is all in BSL, not ASL, so YMMV. Don’t know about ASL, but BSL has a
lot of regional variations as well, so a sign in common ( can unicycling
ever be a common topic of conversation) in one town, may not be used in
another. Paul and I both talked about Muni in our sign exams, when asked
about hobbies.
Sarah
–
Unicon 11 ~ Washington USA.~ July 25 - Aug 2 2002
The world unicycle convention and championships.
http://www.nwcue.org
Pardon me oh so very much, but I just couldn’t resist asking …
Do people complain when others “misspell” in Sign Language? Does everyone just muddle through that, too?
Re: Sign Language Translation of Unicycle
Sarah Miller <sarah@vimes.u-net.com> wrote:
> Dylan Wallinger <extremeunicycler@aol.com> wrote:
>> My Girlfriend is fluent in sign language and she showed me the sign for
>> unicycle, which she said literally meant “clown bike.”
> Depend on where you live tho. when paul and I were signing regulary in
> North Yorkshire UK, the sign for unicycle was R. 1st Finger, pointed up,
> then turned sideways pointing left and used to describe a circle. So a
> sort of contracting of One , wheel . Its a bit like the “cycle” sign as
> well, tho that used two hands,descirbing circles like pedals.
> This is all in BSL, not ASL, so YMMV. Don’t know about ASL, but BSL has a
> lot of regional variations as well, so a sign in common ( can unicycling
> ever be a common topic of conversation) in one town, may not be used in
> another.
Tony (a Deaf UK unicyclist) tends to sign “unicycle” a bit differently.
He uses an “L” hand with both hands, pointing down, with the thumbs
travelling in circles. He understands the Scarborough version of
the sign OK though.
Paul (who sometimes does a bit of interpreting on the side…)
Paul Selwood
paul@vimes.u-net.com http://www.vimes.u-net.com
Re: Sign Language Translation of Unicycle
sendhair <sendhair.6yvyb@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
> Pardon me oh so very much, but I just couldn’t resist asking …
>
>
> Do people complain when others “misspell” in Sign Language? Does
> everyone just muddle through that, too?
What is the equivalent of misspelling? If you mean misspelling
whilst finger-spelling, then it is certainly common for many
of the Deaf who have English (or other verbal/written language)
as a second language to get the English spelling incorrect.
Noone seems to mind this. The shape of the word as a whole tends
to be more important than the detail.
If you are referring to a slight mishape of the hands in a sign,
then this doesn’t tend to be a problem. TV presenters or interpreters
in a formal situation will tend to be more precise, but in general
conversation less care is used.
Of course, this does all have to be thought about in the context of
the huge regional variation that tends to occur with sign-languages.
I can think of 4 different ways of signing “13” that are used in
BSL alone (and I’m not that well educated in regionalisms). These
variations can be quite marked - not just subtle changes.
I, of course, am a hearie (albeit one with some qualifications and
experience in BSL, and a number Deaf and deaf friends) so it is always
possible that I have missed some nuances.
Paul
Paul Selwood
paul@vimes.u-net.com http://www.vimes.u-net.com
Hey everyone…i know im kinda late with this reply but i havent been on unicyclist.com for a while!
Im Dylans Girlfriend Lauren.
Umm yeah its ASL. I have a few Deaf friends and Interpretors for the deaf, who went to collage and university for ASL.
the Signing “clownbike” is one of the official signs, there is another on witch is is way cooler because it leaves the clowns out of it. but it is unfortunetly not used very oftin…but yeah all the others u guys mentiond are also out there,
it is a very different thing wherever you go.
Keep Riding.
UniLor.