by After the wild success of our book, Hand Jive: American Sign Language for Real Life, for Barnes and Noble Publishing, Janna and I have been searching for just the right project to continue our perpetuation of, and love for, ASL. We are still building our Online ASL Classroom and we thought about doing a traditional Baby Signs book, but we felt the market was saturated and the money and contracts we were offered were never quite right with any mainstream publisher. We love the idea of going against the mainstream meme and providing an antidote — an antithesis, if you will — to the Baby Signs Movement by creating Bad Baby Signs: Words No Infant Should Know!
Bad Baby Signs will be a hilarious look at the current Baby Signs epidemic and our remedy will be teaching some fun and funky signs that no baby should learn — nothing crass, nothing rude — just some vocabulary and phrases that every baby will eventually learn anyway like, “Baby’s diapers are crusty!”
Are you familiar with the established Baby Signs movement?
If so, what are your favorite signs? What words and phrases would you like to see in an anti-establishment Bad Baby Signs book? Would you like to learn Bad Baby Signs via a traditional book? Or is a CD better? What about an online course or a downloadable PDF file?
It’s about time you turned comments back on.
Hey arin!
I have a lot of comments in email about wanting access to comments. I tried the comments form and then email but that wasn’t enough satisfaction.
Nobody wants comments in email. We want to see what other people say.
We’ll see how it goes, arin. I’m happy to do comments if there is a want for participation beyond the ordinary and the predictable.
I like to comment every day but sometimes I don’t like to ruin the party so I stay quiet and just read. That’s alright with you right?
Do as you wish, arin.
Do you have any specific commentary on the Bad Baby Signs topic?
I think the whole idea is funny and I like you’re going against the Baby Signs. Create your own fun. It’s about time.
Cool! Yes, we’re creating our own niche against the flow. It will be so much fun! 😉
Funny idea! My favorite sign is the one for drowning and I think it would be good to include it somehow – perhaps, “Don’t leave me in the bathtub alone to answer the phone or I’ll drown.”
Hi bellevelma!
Thanks for the great comment. I LOVE your sentence suggestion! Beautiful! Funny!
I also love your darling avatar! 😀
“Are you kidding me? Can’t you understand I am hungry/thristy and what not as I am trying to eat my own toe?”
We definitely need this translated into a sign… 😀
Love it, Katha!
So funny and awful and cruel: Right on target!
Hi David,
The whole idea of “bad baby signs” is just hysterical!
Do you have a “bad baby sign” for “I’m against the Iraq War and Bush is a total idiot”?
If so, I want to promulgate it. I want to use it in traffic when the car in front of me boasts an “I’m a Republican and Proud of It,” or “Elevate Bush to a Lesser God Status” bumper sticker.
Donna
Excellent suggestion, Donna! I think that would be a fun set of signs to teach.
I appreciate your support!
Hi David,
I like seeing the comments back on again!
My youngest son is just getting ready to speak, so trying to figure out what he is communicating has been something fun and exciting. I’m sure he’d love to have the following baby signs:
1. I want to drive the car.
2. Give me some of that pizza.
3. Let me use the computer.
Right now, when he wants any of these things he just points or grunts or says whatever word he knows right now. I know he wants to drive the car because I put him in the front seat once when I was adjusting his car seat and he instantly grabbed the steering wheel and gave me a big smile.
It’d be pretty cool if he also had some baby signs to throw into the mix.
And, I almost forgot to answer the question about the format for teaching the baby signs. You definitely should include a DVD or some other visual component because both of my sons seem to learn things they see on TV quicker than they do from the printed page.
Hi Chris!
Yes, full comments back on is the only way to fly. Love your new airplane Avatar, BTW! 😀
Ha! Fantastic phrases, Chris! Such great real-world-inspired imagination! Thanks!
The grunting and the pointing is precisely what we want to take to the next step! 😀
Chris —
Thanks for the poopic on the need for visual learning. I tend to agree, though it adds to the cost of the project in exponential steps, but the return value is worth the extra investment.
“Mommy / Daddy, can’t you do anything without following some fashion or trend? Please?”
Thanks, Gordon! That’s a funny phrase to use!