American Sign Language: "Gallaudet"

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Note: Gallaudet University is a “Deaf” university in the northeast area of Washington D.C.  It was named after Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.

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The sign for Gallaudet (both the University and the man) is the same as one of the versions of the sign for "GLASSES."  Use a single motion. Start at the side of the eye with a "wide G handshape" and pull the hand backward about two inches into a "closed G handshape." 

 

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Sample sentence: Did you go to Gallaudet? = "YOU GALLAUDET YOU?"

If you are already "into" the conversation you can just sign, "GALLAUDET YOU?" and it will be easily understood to mean: "Did you attend Gallaudet."
If you sign "GALLAUDET, YOU FINISH-TOUCH YOU?" it would be understood to mean "Have you ever been to Gallaudet?"

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For information regarding "Gallaudet" check out the Gallaudet research papers.

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Notes:
The sign "GALLAUDET" can be used to mean "glasses." It can also be used to mean "Moses." This provides an interesting little memory aid: "Gallaudet was the Moses of the Deaf Community." (Ahem.) Just guesing here -- but more realistically the sign for "Moses" may have started as the sign HAIR (due to the burning bush / white hair incident). Then over time mutated to look more like  GALLAUDET / GLASSES

See: GLASSES