Coolest thing happened at the pool yesterday...

[MermaidNerenia]

So I got lucky, it was a slow day at the pool when I showed up, there were only about thirty to fourty kids there. I got into my tail as usual and got mobbed by them the second the lifeguard carried me out to the water. Nothing abnormal there. But, i noticed that there was a little boy who came up to me and wanted to do nothing but touch my fins and my legs and my hair but he never said anything, I finally got it when two other children he was with and what looked like an older sister came over and they started signing to each other, they were deaf.

It was so cool to watch how fascinated they were with me, I wanted to badly to talk to them but all I kew how to spell was my name. We communicated well enough though that I was able to tell them to go underwater and put their goggles on so that I could blow them bubble kisses which they thought was neat! Luckily they had an interpreter with them and I was able to tell them how much fun I had playing with them.

Apparantly there is no word for Mermaid, so they called me fish girl. It was just the coolest experience ever, they all took pictures and hugged me before they left. I don't think as long as I live that I will ever forget that.

[Spindrift]

That is such a cute story! I love it.

So when you play with children in the pool, do they recognize that you are in a costume or call you out on it? Or do they just irrevocably accept that you're half fish? What would you/do say to them?

[MermaidNerenia]

Depends on the age group, smaller children think im real and I encourage it. Older kids tend to be fascinated but skeptical. Alot depends on the child. I have had a small group of boys come over to me and tell me im not real, to them I usually reply "Are you sure about that?" or "Just because you don't belive in magic doesn't make it not real"

It was really funny though, the same day I had a grown woman (probably in her thirties) shriek "Oh My Stars its a real mermaid ahhhhh!!!!" and run over to me for a picture, it was hysterical

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Hmm... it does seem difficult to find a term for mermaid (I even looked at ASLPro, a convenient American Sign Language online dictionary). I wonder if SEA GIRL might work (since that's basically what mermaid means, after all).

[Mermaid Saphira]

That is the sweetest story! *sniff* <3

[New York Mermaid]

aww thats so sweet :)

[michellerobison]

That's so cool.I'll have to ask my friends for a sign for mermaid... Gabriella from The Little Mermaid animated series. She’s a deaf mermaid and speaks through sign language, which is translated by an octopus.

[H. M.]

That is so sweet!

[Echidna]

So I got lucky, it was a slow day at the pool when I showed up, there were only about thirty to fourty kids there
:jawdrop:
That's what you call a slow day?!
It depends on the size of the pool though, I guess.

And reading this story reminded me that I always wanted to learn sign language (ever thought about underwater?
That's right! Divers and merfolk should definitely know sign language! So convenient),
but I never got around to it.
Mostly because there is no universal sign language, but every country has their own.
Thus, deaf people who don't stem from the same country don't understand each other.
That's such a shame.
Why can't they make one same for all?

[AptaMer]

Why can't they make one same for all?

Way back a long time ago an international federation tried to make an international sign language that could be used everywhere, and would help people from different countries be able to talk at international meetings. It didn't develop into a full language, but it is developed enough for people to communicate with a limited vocabulary with anyone else. It came to be called "International Sign" more information is on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Sign

[merman_terp]

:jawdrop:

Why can't they make one same for all?

Sign Language is its own Language. Just like English. French. German. AptaMer talks about the International Sign Language, and they are right. However, different countries have different languages. Different Deaf Cultures from different countries have different signed languages. Just food for thought.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Also, sign Language is designed to enable communication with deaf people... which means they have to be able to use it to communicate with non-deaf people nearby. ASL already has French grammatical structure and English spellings, but imagine if you had to design a sign language that made sense for every speaking language in the world? It would be impossible.

[merman_terp]

Also, sign Language is designed to enable communication with deaf people... which means they have to be able to use it to communicate with non-deaf people nearby. ASL already has French grammatical structure and English spellings, but imagine if you had to design a sign language that made sense for every speaking language in the world? It would be impossible.

Word.

[Echidna]

Way back a long time ago an international federation tried to make an international sign language that could be used everywhere, and would help people from different countries be able to talk at international meetings. It didn't develop into a full language, but it is developed enough for people to communicate with a limited vocabulary with anyone else. It came to be called "International Sign" more information is on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Sign

Very interesting, thanks for the info.

Btw, I don't intend to hold longwinded discourses with signs;
I just think it would be handy when freediving, to tell your partner simple things without having to resurface ;)

Just learned some stuff like, "over there is something interesting", "how deep is it?", "careful, above are waterskis" etc.
It's still silly how different American and British signing are. It's practically the same language :rolleyes:
Generally, I find the American one a bit easier to decipher, but man, their sign for "beach" is complicated lol!

[AptaMer]

I don't intend to hold longwinded discourses with signs;
I just think it would be handy when freediving, to tell your partner simple things without having to resurface ;)


I wonder if the Mer community and/or the diving community could learn and adapt a sign languge, or take International Sign which is very simple and supplement it with underwater vocabulary to make a language divers/merpeople could use underwater- all over the world. Maybe it could be called Mer Sign or something?

[Elle]

Yeah, we use Auslan (Australian Sign Lanuage) but there is Sign English, American Sign Language, etc, etc.
And what means something in one may mean something completely different in another.
You even have one handed alphabet which is for people who are Deaf and Blind, so they can feel what you are signing.

I'd simply finger spell mermaid, we don't have a sign for it either. But I guess fish girl works :)

[Mary Marine]

There are divers hand signs, including ones for types of aquatic animals. Here are a few: http://www.scuba.com/images/hand-signals/hand-signals.html Most of them are scuba only, but the animal ones would be great to teach kids. I've been wanting to learn some basic american sign language myself and now that I think of it sign languages goes perfectly with mermaiding!

This is the video on ASL I'm starting with for anyone interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9cFqNYlV1A

[MermaidLychee]

Goodness, I live for moments like these. I'm so glad to hear you made their day! ♥

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