The Awkward Turtle

I beg to differ.

This tactical action has many times been deployed by the SAS in tight spots, and so should be used in day to day life as well.

Unlike T-nex, I deg to Biffer.

ABM

As abandoner of RPG and FC, your begging has no impact upon my cold and hardened heart.

Thank you for this...

See that? Splat's cold now. He's become all institutionalised and shit. Probably can't live on the outside world.

I should probably have not just watched some Red Vs Blue...

I would like to point out that the gesture you have described is British Sign Language for turtle, and it’s one of my favourite signs. Except I would curl my fingers instead of leaving my hands flat.

Yeah, to represent the down-turned flippers.

Good thinking Batman.

ABM

Turtles don’t have flippers on their face, Darwin.

*Tests*

Curled fingers make it look like some sort of aqua-van, or aqua-minibus, if you will.

Lotus Esprit, adapted for the Secret Agent finally facing up to the results of his numerous relationships; extra large for all of the offspring!

Whoah, what? British Sign language... there's a sign language for different verbal languages?

Just to make things difficult...

This is old news for us in the Yoo Es. We've moved on to other methods of eschewing awkwardness, like the awkward umbrella.

Yes, there are many different sign languages and dialects around the world, although it’s supposedly easier to pick up new ones through cultural exposure alone once you’re fluent in the one. Despite this, Gestuno (International Sign Language) has had some more success than proposed verbal international auxiliary languages. Possibly due in part to it catering to a smaller community, and in part to it being more a collection of vocabulary than a language defined by grammar.

Signs often have a kind of etymology, representing something or other, but you can’t come up with pictorial or pantomime signs: turtle is turtle no matter what it might look like, just as a crampons turn out not to be worth the childish giggling their name elicits. There’s a leniency in gestures, though, and turtle would probably mean the same thing hands flat or in a fist.

Not that you can’t attempt pantomime signs (and some clearly are, especially sports-related ones), and if you’re lucky you’ll get points for making an effort. But it’s generally not demonstrating fluency in the given sign language in the same way that expressions like ‘that green wavy thing sticking up and like woody and birds inside’ isn’t the classiest way to refer to a tree.

I was going to apologize for going off-topic with a topic I have a personal interest in, but I figured that after this there will be an awkward silence, and we can all do the Awkward Turtle together.

BRB, using it in every conversation

Or the Awkward Hacksaw!

And good job Max for sprinkling a little fertile soil over the desert of ignorance.

I feel at this point the sign for Spring would be both appropriate and cute.

Fun fact: The latest recorded language invented is the NSL (Nicaragua Sign Language) which started off among deaf children freed from the brutality of pre-revolution Nicaragua and relocated into one special orphanage, at which point they started developing their own comprehensive sign language and teaching it to new arrivals.

Why do different countries do this?

ABM

Well obviously, that goes without saying doesn't it?

Not necessarily - The majority of cases where deaf children escape from brutality or a dictator do not lead to a new language being created.
Did every deaf child freed from Pol Pot and his regime go to the same orphanage and learn the same sign language?

Nay. Therefore what WoF said shouldn't really be treated as a "stating the obvious" post because I wouldn't have guessed that the NSL was developed like this.

ABM

I wasn't aware Pol Pot took prisoners....

This WAS a unique situation anyways.

Some of the few who were not exterminated were sent to Khao-I-Dang and forced to work, a lot of whom were deaf.

ABM

Brutality, revolution, or have their own languages?

Their own sign languages.

ABM

Because language acquisition is not controlled by a hive mind.

Very well.

ABM

Many of the same reasons they have their own languages. It’s been shown that some have arisen in complete isolation from others, while others probably diverge when isolated, like BSL and NZSL. There are also dialects within each language. Different signs are used in different parts of the U.K. My BSL teacher was from Scotland, so when it came to using it around Norfolk we found we had to relearn several words, such as those for ‘school’ and the drink ‘tea’.

p.s. Ooh, beaten to it.