ASL Calculate

Today I had to look up the ASL (American Sign Language) sign for "calculate".  It spurred mostly from a fleeting thought as I spoke to someone who asked me if I had yet to calculate something.  When she asked me she made a rotational motion with her hands.  Later that day I spoke to someone else and he did the same rotational motion with his hands.  I think I even make that same motion when talking to people.  That fleeting thought turned into a must know; I wondered if ASL's calculate was the same motion we were making with our hands.  It was not...calculate is this:

http://www.aslpro.com/main/c/calculate.swf

When thinking about the motion in question I admit that I mostly relate it to a process or perhaps a gear of a machine...so I looked up process as well.  Lo and behold...the motion people have a tendency to make is actually the ASL sign for "process"!

http://www.aslpro.com/main/p/process.swf