To sign "fat," start with both hands in open, slightly curved "5" handshapes near your cheeks, with your palms facing each other. Move your hands outward and away from your face to show expansion. As you do this, puff out your cheeks to visually emphasize the meaning of being large, swollen, or thick.
Sign "cat," then sign "fat" with a large outward movement and fully puffed cheeks to emphasize the animal's large size.
Point to yourself, sign "eat" with an exaggerated motion for "too much," and then sign "fat" to describe how full and heavy you feel.
Sign "baby," then use the sign for "fat" right near your face, making sure to puff your cheeks to highlight the baby's chubby face.
Sign "cat," then sign "fat" with a large outward movement and fully puffed cheeks to emphasize the animal's large size.
Point to yourself, sign "eat" with an exaggerated motion for "too much," and then sign "fat" to describe how full and heavy you feel.
Sign "baby," then use the sign for "fat" right near your face, making sure to puff your cheeks to highlight the baby's chubby face.
ASL is a very direct and visually descriptive language. Describing an animal or even a person as "fat" is often just stating a visual fact and isn't inherently an insult the way it can be in English. However, your context, relationship, and facial expression always matter.
Yes! In ASL, puffing your cheeks is a specific non-manual marker (NMM) used to indicate that something is large, thick, or fat. It is a crucial part of the sign's grammar and meaning, not just a silly face.
While the puffed cheeks apply, you usually modify your handshape to match the specific object. For a thick, "fat" book, you would use "C" hands to show the thickness of the spine while still puffing your cheeks to emphasize the size.
