Whatever the shape and orientation of the hand(s), there will also be a location (or place of articulation) in relation to the head and upper body of the signer. In THANK-YOU, the sign begins near the mouth and is completed at chest level. Some signs can only be distinguished on the basis of location, as in the difference between signing SUMMER (above the eyes) and UGLY (below the eyes) because hand shape, palm orientation and movement are the same in both of these signs. In some two-handed signs (e.g. MEDICINE, SHIP), one hand acts as the base location while the other hand moves on or above it.

The movement element in THANK-YOU is “out and downward” toward the receiver. The difference between faster and slower movement in signing also has an effect on meaning. In a story recounted by Stokoe (2001), the director of public relations at Gallaudet College (for the deaf) happened to notice two employees signing one day about a former president who had been very ill. She saw a sign that she interpreted as DEAD and phoned the Washington Post, where an obituary for the ex-president appeared the following day. Rather prematurely, as it turned out, for the same hand movements, used fairly quickly in DEAD, had actually been used by the signer with a much slower rotation to communicate DYING. The difference in type of movement creates a difference in meaning. Clearly, just as there are “slips of the ear”, there can also be “slips of the eye.”