Page 122 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

American Deaf Culture 107

ings of 525 name signs from which parents may choose in order
to pass down to future generations the traditional name signs of
ASL.

Hugs
Every culture has a greeting ritual: bows in Japan, kisses on cheeks
in France, and handshakes in the United States. Deaf culture has
hugs. Just like bows, kisses on cheeks, and handshakes, hugs fol-
low an internal system of rules. Children learn the proper way to
do it from watching their parents; outsiders who don’t know the
rules seem awkward. It may be difficult for outsiders to get mem-
bers of the culture to describe their greeting system explicitly be-
cause, like so many other rituals, to the members of the culture “it
just feels right.”
Even though hearing Americans employ greeting hugs on oc-
casion, the Deaf system appears to differ in certain respects.
• Deaf people hug more than hearing people.
• Deaf people hug a wider range of people than hearing people.
The hearing hug seems to be reserved for a smaller set of
intimates.
• The Deaf hug has more body contact than the hearing version.
(Deaf people often tease their hearing friends about their “hear-
ing hug” in which there is minimal body contact and the bod-
ies of the huggers make an inverted V shape. Hearing people
are sometimes also chided for “patting” during the hug.)
• The Deaf greeting hug is important, but the parting hug may
be more important.
Other aspects of hugs in Deaf culture:
• There are individual variations. A particularly physical Deaf
person may add a kiss with the hug.
• One hugs a person with whom one shares a connection. Most
often that would be a friend that one has not seen for a while.
(One does not hug the same person in greeting more than
once a day.)
• Hugging shows respect, just as in a family gathering, where
hearing children are expected to say hello to or kiss all the
aunts and uncles (even those who pinch cheeks).
• Hugs are noticed by others who carry assumptions about who
should be hugged by whom. For example, Jill and Gloria are
old friends and haven’t seen each other for a while. They hap-
pen to run into each other at a shopping mall when Jill is there

05 MINDESS PMKR 107 10/18/04, 12:00 PM