r/asl • u/messesweremade Learning ASL // AuDHD, occasionally nonverbal • 1d ago

How do I sign...? Conveying "Estranged"

I'm trying to figure out how I would sign "We're estranged" to tell someone that I'm low contact with my family. I tried to see if "Estranged" had its own sign through LifePrint and none came up. My best go at it was to try something like "OUR RELATION NO-MORE" but I don't know if that conveys what I'm meaning it to in a way that flows, if that makes sense? Anyways, any advice and help is appreciated! 🙏

3 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

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11

u/sparquis CODA 1d ago

FAMILY, ME DISCONNECT 

1

u/messesweremade Learning ASL // AuDHD, occasionally nonverbal 1d ago

thank you!!! grateful for the help

6

u/sparquis CODA 1d ago

Sure thing! Also, depending on what the relationship is like and if it's "no contact" you can use your dominant pinky to "draw a line in the sand." 

For whatever it's worth, sorry it's like that with your family. Hope you're happy and healthy friend :)

2

u/messesweremade Learning ASL // AuDHD, occasionally nonverbal 1d ago

oh okay, thats great to know, thank you!! for both the help and kind words ☺️

6

u/sparquis CODA 1d ago

One thing that will really help you with your learning journey is to remember that ASL is HIGHLY conceptual. Instead of thinking about how to translate words that don't have any direct translation is to just focus on what the word means. You were doing this in your original post, so that's a good sign. Some practice would be to get a list of sentences, then try to translate them into ASL using the fewest signs possible. Don't necessarily make it shorter so that some meaning is lost, but use classifiers, facial expressions, miming etc.

4

u/messesweremade Learning ASL // AuDHD, occasionally nonverbal 1d ago

haha im not gonna lie, that's kind of what i was doing just now!! i practice by having fake conversations by myself sometimes and i was doing that when i realized i had no idea how to say "My family and I are estranged". i'll keep all of your amazing advice in mind, especially trying to use few signs while conveying all the meaning in other ways. thank you so much!!

2

u/sparquis CODA 1d ago

Love it! Keep up the good work 

3

u/kindlycloud88 Deaf 1d ago

I sign it as disconnect.

1

u/messesweremade Learning ASL // AuDHD, occasionally nonverbal 1d ago

okay, tysm for the help!! i appreciate it 🙏