Saying “Obama” In Sign Language
The Guardian asks, regarding the new TV show of Stephen Fry (pictured): ‘How do you say Obama in sign language? It’s like an O followed by a little flutter of the hand. To me it looks like a fish, a fish beginning with O. Brilliant address to Congress today, by an oarfish. Oh I see, the flutter is a flag, the stars and stripes. Madonna? Easy: pointy tits. Hitler? Moustache, with or without mini sieg heil salute, the signer chooses (maybe it depends on where you are and who you’re with).’ All this is from Fry’s “Planet Word,” which is being broadcast on BBC2 in Britain. If you want to watch, you’ll have to dig into the “illegal” downloading websites: the Dark Side.
It was good to see Stephen Fry taking Esperanto seriously on his programme “Planet Word”. Unfortunately the representative from the United Nations – who claimed she was an expert on the subject knew absolutely nothing about the language.
Not only did she not know that Esperanto intends to be an auxiliary language for all but did not know either that the World Esperanto Association enjoys consultative relations with the United Nations and is using that position to defend the rights of all minority languages. Confirmation is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7vD9kChBA&feature=related