Wow, Bob Does Know Something: JKF’s Spell!

For a number of years I could raise my blood pressure by listening to many stories about Deaf people by hearing people teaching them. Most hearing people in the world of Deaf Education are apparently committed to defending Deaf people’s ability to utter something using voice. This means that they have to get through the Training and on to the Classroom without being stopped by ASL Proficiency Interview. Because I laughed with some critics as Professor Bob Johnson in A Tough Spell At Gallaudet, I decided to write this post showing that according to Bob’s writing, JKF does sound that way. That gave me the title: "Wow, Bob Does know Something: JKF’s Spell!"

I had forgotten, but after I wrote the first paragraph I came across old notes in which I had some written discussion with a fellow graduate student about my voice. Being my linguistics informant, he told me that although my speech is understandable, it does sound funny. It is now catchy. It starts to make me think: What does Bob mean when he wrote “A Tough Spell At Gallaudet.” ASL is so stringent that it exists without the benefit of voicing.

The title is very important. “A Tough Spell At Gallaudet” is a good title because it encapsulates a lot of Bob’s courage and confidence. He was sure he knew what he had to say—and joke.

I analyze far below the title “A Tough Spell At Gallaudet” in some detail, both from Bob’s statement and from my statement, more or less paragraph by paragraph. I give my arguments for doing what I do and then also provide objections to my writing. In this way I do that Jack W. Meiland recommends about argumentative writing in his “College Thinking”: give arguments, but also provide objections to those arguments. Well, in all honesty, I do not always do that when signing meets voicing because it becomes moot.

My argument: someone might object to Bob’s title “A Tough Spell At Gallaudet” on the ground that it is flippant. Also, it states in the conclusion that it does not seem proper English. My objection: I counter that Bob’s essay does give a powerful hint of skeptical goings-on, and despite my saying that Bob has to tease us, we the readers need to anticipate some truths. And I give it all away in the last paragraph:

D. Jane K. Fenandes, embattled Pesident Elect of the Univesity, though attled by ecent events, announced he suppot fo the change. “Not only does it demonstate that the univesity is citically concened about impotant issues such as the envionment and global waming, but it is especially appopiate and elevant at Gallaudet,” she poclaimed, “because when you fist look at it, it looks like university but it’s eally not.

More important is what things are; this is usually what I mean when I say Bob knows something. So in this above paragraph, I come to the crux of the matter. I argue that JKF cannot talk—and sign. I object that JKF needs to be funny about her own deafness. Gallaudet University is more all-round if ASL is fully-fledged. Any mode of communication will not ing ight!

Goddamn it, Bob, linguistics is done with an epee, not a scimitar. What an underlying spell!