Signing For Dummies (26 page)

If you want to show
gorging,
sign
food
with both hands alternately putting food in your mouth while your cheeks are puffed out or your mouth is wide open. The faster you sign, the more you gorge. To sign
starving,
just sign
hungry
faster, open your mouth a little, and look hungry.

Having breakfast

Because breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the signs for breakfast foods are the most important ones of the day. The signs in Table 5-3 certainly help at the breakfast bar or at the breakfast table.

Even if you’re still half asleep, you won’t have any problems figuring out most of these Signs: The Sign for
bacon
mimics the waviness of a fried strip;
toast
lets you know that the bread is browned on both sides;
cereal
is the crunchy stuff you chew. Use the common abbreviations for
orange juice
and sign the letters
O
and
J
to convey this popular breakfast beverage (the Cheat Sheet at the front of this book has the manual alphabet). Get going on practicing your early-morning skills with the following examples:

English:
I want eggs, not cereal.

Sign:
EGGS WANT — CEREAL NOT — ME

English:
The orange juice is cold.

Sign:
COLD O-J

English:
I’ll have sausage and eggs.

Sign:
SAUSAGE — EGGS — HAVE ME

Eating lunch

Doing lunch with friends is at your fingertips. The set of Signs in Table 5-4 can hold you through the afternoon — just don’t get too excited about signing these items, or you may end up eating them all in one sitting!

To order a hamburger, you imitate the motions of making a patty, but for other lunch Signs, you use the manual alphabet (shown on the Cheat Sheet at the front of this book). For example,
French fries
is the letter
F
repeated, and you sign
pizza
by bending your index and middle fingers and then making a manual
Z.
Follow these examples:

English:
I’m hungry, and it’s time for lunch.

Sign:
NOW TIME — NOON FOOD — HUNGRY ME

English:
I’d like a cheeseburger and fries.

Sign:
CHEESEBURGER — FRIES — LIKE ME