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"
ASL: "yes"
Israeli: "disrespectful"
Dutch Sign: "friend"
Israeli: "lesbian" (old sign, based on sexual connotation 😐🙃)
ASL: "friend"
Israeli: "hanging" or sometimes "depends"
ASL: "wolf"
Israeli: "fox"
ASL: "name"
Israeli: "sick"
ASL: "homie"
Israeli: "work"
ASL: "funny"
Israeli: "try"
ASL: "able to"
Israeli: "owner"
Israeli: "yes"
ASL: "yellow"
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 🇩🇪
ASL: "work"
Israeli: "complain"
i also suspect:
ASL: "right/correct"
Israeli: "harassment"
but the movement might be slightly different between these two? idk
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
ASL: "can't"
Israeli: "mistake"
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)