Ray of Light

Let's learn a song.

Hey!

Calm down. You don't have to like the song. That's not part of it. You don't have to like the artist either. You don't even have to like the type of music. It's just a vehicle.

There is no sign for zephyr.
There is no sign for zeppelin.
There is no sign for dirigible.
There is no sign for airship.
There is no sign for blimp.

We're off to a bad start.

There is a sign for balloon. And zephyr is like a ballon in the sky. So you can define it and the definition fits right into the music, "Zephyr in the sky." You blow a ballon and place it in the sky and float it slowly along, slowly as the music allows.

balloon

This woman shows two ways to say "Sun" but neither of her versions are well formed. Her "sun" is closer to a salute than it is to an orb that rose from the horizon. Some signers include the rays as if the sun is turned on like a light bulb once it's up there in noon position. It's differentiated from "moon" by a full-handed "C" shape, while moon is and actual "C" with index finger and thumb. So the sun starts out on the horizon and rises up to "noon" position. You can add rays. 

sun

sink

The online dictionaries have better "rays" than YouTube does. YouTube gets sidetracked with performers named "Ray and Del Ray" and the rays they show in their songs are the type that emanate from the sun, multiple rays. It's the horizon arm again, and the dominate hand strikes the horizon as a fist then BLAM! opens up to rays jutting toward the viewer. And it looks exactly like the rays of the morning sun bursting across the horizon toward you. 

This guy is showing infrared ray. An index finger goes boink and is jut forward. Still, he's closest to a beam of light that Madonna is singing about. I tend to use sign for "line," the tips of both pinkie fingers pulling away from each other, for "light-line." The sign for "shinning" is the bent middle finger shaking as the hand is pulled one way or another, but its too zig-zaggy for a "ray of light." We're looking for a suitable depiction of a light beam.

infrared ray

Night is the bent open hand sun setting over your other arm, the horizon. This arm as horizon is useful for "Sun" which is another word in the song. And it's also useful for "sink." 

The sign for "night" is actually subtle. Not  exaggerated as this. The arms held close mid abdomen.

night

These words that use an arm for the horizon give this song a somewhat robotic look to it. Parallelism, with occasional diagonal movement and unrelated movements for relief from robotic stiffness. I find myself pretending to be a robot that humanizes the song with slippery words,  but still performing the movement as android, and that comes from the combination of words, "sink beneath the sun" and "night" and the word "feel" occurring over extended beats. There are words that go across the chest like

"and" if you want to include that word,  and words that go forward from the chest, and diagonally in front of the chest, like a toy robot, then words that slide in like little snakes, "home" for example.  

It's a very easy song with no peculiar challenges. And it repeats. It's a natural for sign and I don't understand why the kids haven't taken it up. They're really missing the fun. I'll show you a woman rocking out to the song with her own improvised sign. If she only knew the actual signs she could do the whole thing like an acid trip. She comes very close. 

I think how awesome it would be to have her around the house. And then I think of all that hair all over the bathroom surfaces, and her little bits of jewelry all over the place. Hair on my pillow and hair on my toothbrush. Her clothes left draped all over. I seem to have digressed. But that happens when I watch her.

She's freaking me out.

"Light" is a flick at the tooth or the chin. So is "glass." Here a boy shows it.

light

"Tear" is the tip of an index finger pulled down from the corner of an eye. It's a straight pantomime. And this allows all degrees of tearing. You can repeat the dripping tear, use both hands on both eyes, use multiple fingers for really bawling, or do as Jeff does and make a face so profoundly broken that the lower mandible rocks back and forth hilariously as a single tear is pulled straight down. You can't help but crack up at that. Jeff is hilarious.

YouTube shows examples of a kitchen sink. Pantomime again. A basin with a faucet or two knobs. A very good sinking as in water, is the 3 hand configuration dropping below the water line, the horizon for "sun," the arm in place for it rises above pivoting robotically at the elbow from the 3 that just sank. That 3 hand configuration that uses the thumb,  is used for all forms of transportation, parked cars, lanes of cars, airplanes, so that 3 sinking looks like a car sinking in water and those two combined in this language is very, er, handy, and attractive, "sinks beneath the sun." Horizon, 3 sinks below it, the hand on the horizon arm changes subtly to "C", rises up as if hinged at the elbow and  becomes the sun arcing up to noon position. It's lovely. And a bit robotic-looking. 

"Mourning" means "sad," so "tear-sad" 

sad (mourning)

"Wonder" is "think."

think (wonder)

"Thunder" is a really cool sign. You touch the ear for "sound" then use both arms in fists to convey your entire body shaking like the Shake Weight exercisers given the satire treatment on South Park. (Where lightning is an index finger tracing a fast and dramatic double or triple Z bolt in the air) 

"Universe" is two "U" hand configurations rotating around each other. This person shows it backward, which caused a whole group of (drunk) deaf dudes to burst out laughing when I did it this way. It's the same awkward motion as "Earth" with two "E" shapes and "World" with two "W" shapes. 

This young woman shows "World." It's a system. "M" for Mars, and so on. "U" for "Universe." 

world

"Home" Again it's a subtle sign, the fingertips of a closed hand move directly from corner of mouth to cheek. There is no bizarrely wild movement to it and it doesn't go so far as the ear. 

home

"Threaten" is the "horizon" arm blocking an incoming attack, coming by way of index finger from the outside. 

"Everyone" is shown by two "1" index fingers aimed upward in front of you and moving apart forming a broad semicircle in front or your torso. You can use all upward fingers to show being in the center of a crowd, or surrounded by people.

"Ended" is "finished" an immensely useful sign, that's used in places where it's not used in English but where the concept of something terminating applies. Like here. The English is "gone" while the idea is "terminated," not "went somewhere" It's two upward open palms quickly flipping over to aim downward as if dumping their contents. A flick of both hands indicating, "I'm done with that." Or like flicking water downward off your hands. 

"Feel" is the bent inward middle finger feeling something for "touch". So "feel" your whole torso with both bent middle fingers up and down sensually for total self-feeling up. Because you're "feeling" all over the place. 

 Finally. We're ready to do this song justice.  Everyone who dances this song tries to perform some kind of incipient signing. Dancers really would like to show at least parts of this song, and that's apparent in their dancing. A video of the entire middle-aged Oprah Winfrey audience shows this impulse a little bit. It's frustrating to be able to only do karate chops for expression, when you're feeling so much music. And now you can do the whole thing. 

*yells* COME ON! Be a sport. Give it a try.