Fascinate

This is truly one of the best signs ever.

Sarah Tubert uses it in her translation of "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran.

I must return to this song because my mind never left it. I could not find the English word for the sign that I've seen so often and is so perfect for this song.

I've been thinking about this for weeks. I've seen my friends do this sign in combination with other signals, like putting their hand on their chest and tossing their head sideways as if smitten by something that totally grabs them, usually a woman.

I thought it meant lust, or grab my attention, or squeeze my focus, monopolize my thoughts, wreck my mind, take my interest and squeeze it. I couldn't find an English equivalent but the sign left no doubt what is intended.

Sarah uses it for "I love." And that's just wrong.

"I love the shape of your body."

Sarah uses two signs for that. And I must say her choices are perfect. Because they go together so well and they do express this same idea.

"Fascinate" is two C hand shapes facing each other in front of the face, the fingers wiggle then converge as if smashing a paper towel cardboard tube in front front of the face, one's imaginative focus closed and compressed and squeezed to an atom. That's total fascination for you. It's graphic as all H-E-double black magic markers.

And now the hands are placed perfectly for the word "shape" and the shape that is delineated is a human body.

"Shape" is shown by two "10" hand shapes, the thumbs being the markers, they move downward in front of the torso and symmetrically delineate the shape of a vase. You're showing the shape of something using two thumbs. So when you see someone using their thumbs together in a downward wavy pattern this way as Sarah does then you think of the concept "shape."

The lyrics are "I love the shape of your body."

Sarah doesn't say "I" and "your," rather, she shows, "fascinate" and "shape."

The "I' is implied because it's her showing her fascination. It's such an amazing effective sign. And "your" isn't necessary and neither is "body" when the shape she is delineating is a human form, not a vase.

I'm very impressed with her choices. So much better than "I" +"love" + "shape" + "your" + "body" which is actually rather clunky.

Having said that, a similar refrain is repeated right after that and she does show "love" + "your" +"body."

There is so much that is odd about her translation. It's a real challenge following her choices. She's practiced this song and that's lead to certain distortions specifically for this song.

"Room," for example, is shown by two double karate chops showing the four walls of a room, but Sarah shows only two walls then snaps the room closed. It's a snappy way to say "room" and I wouldn't recognize it outside of this song.

Oh I, oh I, oh I, oh, I oh I.
Oh I, oh I, oh I, oh, I oh I.

Is shown by that waved dropped jaw motion, but idiosyncratically such that sound is not actually shown. There is no "O" nor  "I" shapes shown. What is shown is any random non-word vocalization that could be anything.

Other words are formed incompletely such that I cannot recognize them. If I saw this in conversation I'd be lost.

"Discover something brand new" I'm not seeing "find," rather, I'm seeing "pick up something" then twirling and upright index finger means "always" which is not in the lyrics, then "new."

"Pick up (like a coin) " + "always" + "new" is what I am seeing.

She shows "music" for when the xylophone is playing then switches arms for the octave change, then back to the original arm sweep.  I think it'd be better to show the xylophone to convey some sense of the sound of the music.

But then immediately after the same "music" for the English word "jukebox."

"Put Van the Man on the jukebox." is reduced to "music."

"hours and hours" = "continue."

"Family" is two "F" shapes forming a circle, "Doing okay" is those same "F" shapes as Chef Boyardee "fine." So then, "family okay" looks like one thing.

I could go on for quite a long time describing each choice. The club at the beginning looks like a sunken cave, so I don't get the sense of a nightclub. I don't see an "instead" sign signaling the club is dismissed for the bar. The club is unclear but its rejection is dramatized, the bar is shown with drinks tossed back. The lyrics are a bit tricky, but this is how the story begins, I'd take greater care in showing the story, how the two people connected, not just vaguely matching key portions of the concepts. I'm not seeing the story in her signs. While talking to deaf I do see the story. That portion of the story should run like a film clip.

Sarah takes a lot of shortcuts, a lot of elisions and compressions and a ton of idiosyncratic signs that make it difficult to follow her. If I saw all this conversationally I don't think I'd be able to identify the song. Nonetheless I love the choices she's made throughout. It's a fine song. An excellent song to practice for its particular challenges. I'm impressed with what Sarah has done it, much better than most.

With your indulgence, here is the song once again. Look for "fascinate" + "shape" and see how well it fits with this song, fantastic choice right there, then immediately after that "love" + "your" +"body."

It took me two weeks to find the English word "fascinate." (third one)  Finally, after all these years I have an English word for this splendid sign.