Garrett walks in. Garrett: Is spelling or signing the word “to” considered a bad word in ASL? Or is it not a part of ASL? The answer is no. This is a myth. Here are some examples of what has actually happened to me that lead to misunderstanding.
Example 1: My mother “precious” me. Garrett: I thought it was heartwarming, then I read the caption. Oh, the sentence said, “Mom is precious to me.” I realized it meant the opposite of what I thought. It was not “Mother cherishes me.” I noticed that eliminating the word “to” caused me to misunderstand.
Example 2: Dance, music Garrett: I assumed the sentence meant, “dance and music”. Until someone sitting next to me told me that they said, “Dance to the music.” Then I realized the sentence meant to dance by following the music. This was where I misunderstood it.
Example 3: Happily celebrate me Garrett: I assumed it meant they were happily celebrating for who I am. Then I read the caption and realized that the sentence said “Happy anniversary to me”. It meant a happy annual celebration to oneself. This was where I misunderstood it.
Captions vs Sign Language, Guidelines on Using “To”
Garrett: Ironically, the meaning from the captions and sign language don’t always fit. Really, the word “to” isn’t a bad word that deserves a hand spanking. Actually, the way of including the word “to” ranges from translating and eliminating the word “to” to simply signing the word “to”. As an ASL teacher, I will give you a basic guideline of when to include the word “to” or not. There are three options.
1. “To” an Entity Garrett: “Entity” can be a person or concept. This is when to include the word “to”. For example with a sentence, “It is important to me.” The “me” is considered to be an entity. This is when to include the word “to” unless the sentence has action that shows where it refers “to". For example, the word “give” can indicate where it goes, thus identifying where to give “to”. So the word “to” can be eliminated. Generally, to an entity, go and include the word “to”.
2. “To” as Intention Garrett: For “Intention”, when the word “to” functions as an intention, it can be included. For example with phrases, “exercise to feel good," and “study to pass the test”, the word “to” as intention can be included.
3. The Rest of “To” Garrett: The word “to” can be translated as the sign “pointing” towards a place. Or the word “to” can be translated as “proceed”. The other usage of “to” can be eliminated.
Garrett: In short, this is a basic guideline. As a Deaf person, I am asking you all please give correct, clear messages in sign language. Don’t feel that the word “to” is a bad word which deserves to have a hand spanking, or be viewed as not part of ASL and it should be removed entirely. Let’s weigh on a scale between the true, clear communication vs the myth regarding the word “to”. The communication weighs more and is more essential. The myth needs to go away and vanish into thin air. Thumbs up!