Years ago I saw an off-off-broadway version of Children of A Lesser God. In one scene the woman signs that after their date perhaps they could go for a milkshake. The sign she used is commonly used by males to indicate masterbation. The man signs: Wait, perhaps you should spell that.
She then spells out each individual letter using sign and he says: “Oh! You see, in the hearing world that gesture means…” And he breaks off, both of them looking embarassed.
It was a cute scene and I have often wondered if it had been made up just to make the joke, or if there was some accuracy. The woman that I was dating at the time was rather offended, she was a speech therapist (probably is) and was learning ASL and said that there is no such sign for milkshake. She was probably little better than a novice though, so I’m not sure she knew for sure.
Dunno what made me think of that, but now that I have, I thought I’d ask.
Ah, but sign language is as much context-based as anything. The sign for “milkshake” does not consist of only the “shake” part, which, as you pointed out, vaguely resembles the shaking hand motion used to indicate masturbation. However, “milkshake” is usually signed “milk,” “shake” in rapid succession, with the “shake” part, by itself, being hard to confuse with its more raunchy sibling.
However, many hearing folks get embarrassed signing anything resembling a dirty word, so they fingerspell the whole 9 letters.