Start by making a fist with only the pinky extended vertically, palm out. Drop the palm toward the floor and rotate the wrist inward to form the letter "J." Then transition to the letter "O" by curving the fingers to meet the thumb. Then make the letter "B" by extending all the fingers and pointing them upward with the palm out and the thumb bent in front of the palm. Some users may omit or "swallow" the "O."
Sign 'I', 'GET', 'NEW', and then smoothly fingerspell J-O-B as described. Let the twist of the 'J' flow naturally into the 'B' handshape, skipping the 'O' for a more natural pace.
Point to the person for 'YOUR', sign J-O-B, and furrow your eyebrows while holding the final 'B' handshape. Furrowing your eyebrows is the ASL grammar marker for 'wh-' questions.
Sign 'GOOD' by bringing your flat hand from your chin down to your other hand, then quickly sign J-O-B. This is a very common, encouraging phrase used by signers of all levels.
Sign 'I', 'GET', 'NEW', and then smoothly fingerspell J-O-B as described. Let the twist of the 'J' flow naturally into the 'B' handshape, skipping the 'O' for a more natural pace.
Point to the person for 'YOUR', sign J-O-B, and furrow your eyebrows while holding the final 'B' handshape. Furrowing your eyebrows is the ASL grammar marker for 'wh-' questions.
Sign 'GOOD' by bringing your flat hand from your chin down to your other hand, then quickly sign J-O-B. This is a very common, encouraging phrase used by signers of all levels.
Skipping the 'O' makes the sign faster and more fluid. In ASL, when short words are fingerspelled very frequently, they become 'lexicalized.' This means they evolve into their own unique sign, and middle letters are often dropped for efficiency.
Yes! You can also use the sign for 'WORK' to mean 'job.' To sign 'WORK,' make two 'S' fist handshapes and tap the heel of your dominant fist onto the back of your non-dominant wrist a couple of times. Both are widely used.
No, try to keep your hand steady! When fingerspelling, especially for a lexicalized word like this one, your hand should stay in a fixed area just in front of your shoulder. Let your fingers and wrist do the work, not your arm.
