gonna make a thread of sign language false friends i encounter because OH MY GOD THERES JUST SO MANY and some of them are real spicy

let's kick this off with an absolute banger:

Israeli: "problem"
ASL: "bitch"

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ASL: "yes"
Israeli: "disrespectful"

Dutch Sign: "friend"
Israeli: "lesbian" (old sign, based on sexual connotation 😐🙃)

ASL: "friend"
Israeli: "hanging" or sometimes "depends"

ASL: "where"
Israeli: "who"

basically the sign version of the classic english-speaker-learning-german mistake of asking "wer ist die toilette?"

re: yes/yellow pair -- israeli "yellow" is, in fact, nearly identical to asl "yellow" (= israeli "yes") but adds a sideways motion to distinguish

most likely cognates through LSF 🇫🇷 and DGS 🇩🇪

i also suspect:

ASL: "right/correct"
Israeli: "harassment"

but the movement might be slightly different between these two? idk

ASL: "nice (to) meet (you)"
Israeli: "just accessible"

ASL: "no"
Israeli: "(doesn't) speak"

(ASL "no" is usually signed together with a head shake, which in Israeli Sign can be used to negate verbs)

Israeli: "which one of those?"
ASL: "are they the same?"

note: yes/no questions and wh questions have two distinct facial expressions/"tones of voice" (and it's the same two in both Israeli and ASL, as far as i can tell) but i can personally say from experience, that when i accidentally use the wrong one, i'm still mostly understood

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