Beware: Miley Cyrus and Celine Dion all in one post

I have had a fascination with sign language for a long time- I think since I went to summer camp at age 9 and took a workshop to learn some of the basics.  Basically the only thing that stayed with me was the alphabet and the sign for snake, and now I regret not learning more.  In the same way that an unknown foreign language like Italian sounds like music to my ears, uninterpreted sign language seems like a dance.  It's beautiful.  Now I didn't realize until today that there is American Sign Language (ASL) and Pidgin Signed English (PSE).  PSE is not a true language like ASL and lacks the rules of grammar and structure, but it is fairly commonly used.  I learned all of this because of a video on Gawker.TV:



This woman is using PSE and apparently includes some outdated signs.  For some reason I was surprised to learn that signs could be deemed "old-fashioned" as one person in the comments pointed out.  Then someone else posted this video as a response to the one above.  This is modern sign language and it is a.ma.zing.  Seriously, this made my day:



This guy started signing to music as part of an assignment for a sign language class in college.  He posted the assignment on youtube and it went viral because, well, clearly.  I love this!  It makes me so happy.  Maybe I should send the video to my grumpy neighbor. 

The Language

-Robert Creeley

Locate I

love you some-

where in

teeth and   

eyes, bite   

it but

take care not   

to hurt, you   

want so

much so   

little. Words   

say everything.

I

love you

again,

then what   

is emptiness   

for. To

fill, fill.

I heard words   

and words full

of holes   

aching. Speech   

is a mouth.