Close the hand while the thumb is up, and nod the head and smile as if
to approve of something good. (_Hasenstab_.)
Point the forefinger to the mouth and move the lips with a pleased
look as if tasting sweet fruit. (_Larson_.)
Use the sign for _handsome_ by drawing the outstretched palm of the
right hand down over the right cheek; at the same time nod the head as
if to say "yes." (_Ziegler_.)
_Deaf-mute signs_:
Some of the Indian signs appear to be connected with a pleasant taste
in the month, as is the sign of the French and American deaf-mutes,
waving thence the hand, either with or without touching the lips, back
upward, with fingers straight and joined, in a forward and downward
curve. They make nearly the same gesture with hand sidewise for
general assent: "Very well!"
The conventional sign for _good_, given in the illustration to the
report of the Ohio Institution for the education of the deaf and dumb,
is: The right hand raised forward and closed, except the thumb, which
is extended upward, held vertically, its nail being toward the body;
this is in opposition to the sign for _bad_ in the same illustration,
the one being merely the exhibition of the thumb toward and the other
of the little finger away from the body. They are English signs, the
traditional conception being acceptance and rejection respectively.
_Italian signs_:
The fingers gathered on the mouth, kissed and stretched out and
spread, intimate a dainty morsel. The open hand stretched out
horizontally, and gently shaken, intimates that a thing is so-so, not
good and not bad. (_Butler_.) Compare also the Neapolitan sign given
by De Jorio, see Fig. 62, p. 286, _supra_. Cardinal Wiseman gives as
the Italian sign for _good_ "the hand thrown upwards and the head back
with a prolonged ah!" _Loc. cit._, p. 543.
---- Heart is.
Strike with right hand on the heart and make the sign for GOOD from
the heart outward. (_Cheyenne_ II.)
Touch the left breast over the heart two or three times with the
ends of the fingers of the right hand; then make the sign for GOOD.
(_Dakota_ IV.)
Place the fingers of the flat right hand over the breast, then make
the sign for GOOD. (_Dakota_ VII.)
Move hand to position in front of breast, fingers extended, palm
downward (W), then with quick movement throw hand forward and to
the side to a point 12 or 15 inches from body, hand same as in first
position. (_Sahaptin_ I.)
For further remarks on the signs for _good_, see page 286.