In a message dated 5/15/2007 3:31:04 PM Pacific Daylight Time, nelly@ writes:
My daughter is hearing impaired and trying to teach my grandsons sign language. They
will be 3 and 4 years old in August. They love chicken nuggets and we can't find a sign for nuggets anywhere. Do
you know of one or does it just have to be fingerspelled? I feel stupid asking this question and taking up your
time, but I told my daughter that I would try to find out for her.
Nelly S. Briggs
There is no sign for "nuggets."
Most of the time it is just spelled. Any sign I show you will not be "widely recognized."
I've asked around a bit and my friends have shown me everything from signs that look like the sign for "coins on the palm"
to signs that show the sign chicken and then show "opening the lid of a small box-like container."
One approach would be to use a classifier to show "things about this big."
Here is an example of: BIRD "things about this big"
This is an example of the creation of a "home sign." You can use it at home with your daughter and grandsons, but that
doesn't mean anyone outside of your home will recognize or understand the sign.
If the video link (above) is not working, the
"things about this big." portion of the sign can be shown by tapping a "modified C handshape" together twice:
Here is a closeup of that handshape.
The sign for "chicken" is generally the same sign as "BIRD."
Even though this is the same sign as "BIRD" it is easily understood in
If you have to have a difference, you can do the "beak" sign with your right
hand and hold your left flat hand palm up in front of you. Then bring
the "beak" down to the left hand to represent a chicken pecking for seeds on
the ground. After the tip of the beak touches the palm once, pull the beak up
about three inches and down again.
American Sign Language University ™ ASL resources by Lifeprint.com © Dr. William Vicars