Tigie: Certain letters, like "d" face the speaker to look like
a "d" right?
DrVicars: Most of the letters somewhat face the receiver (at a
comfortable 45 degree angle).
Let's take the letter d for example, if I were signing to you, my index
finger would be pointing up and the the tips of
my of my other fingers would be curled around to meet the tip of my
thumb. The palm of my right hand would be facing a bit off to my left
(it is aimed a bit off to your right side--remember in this scenario you are
the receiver, my left is your right). Anyway, for most
of the fingerspelled
alphabet, most of the letters your palm is pointing about half way between forward
(for clarity) and to the left (for comfort).
Tigie: Oh, I thought the index finger was facing me.
[The tip of the index finger points upward, the palm points mostly
forward but not necessarily at the other person because that is
uncomfortable..]
DrVicars: The exception is for the "g" and "h"
letters--the palm is slightly back toward the signer
and/or to the left. "G" and "H" can be done "correctly" with the index
finger (or index and middle for the H) pointing anywhere from forward
to the left, but not with the index pointing to the right--that hurts.
Tigie: thanks, I was confused
Lii: That seems a whole lot less... (I can't think of the
word)... "cumbersome" in the
way it's supposed to be signed.
DrVicars: Sure, just remember my main rule: "If it hurts, don't do
it!"
Lii: LOL
DrVicars: The deaf won't sign something in a painful way