beer

Dr. Vicars,

This is Wolfman, I would like to know if you'd help me distinguish the difference between two signs in detail please, I am having trouble with? The two signs are the sign for beer and the sign for brown, because looking at them on your site has both of them using the side of your hand go up and down your chin a few inches. I mean I enjoy a good laugh and a little confusion a much as the next guy but it would sound weird but hilarious if I asked someone " Do you like the color beer?" or " Want a cold brown?", haha ha, or better yet tell me a different sign for beer I could use to avoid the very funny but honest confusion, so please help me if you have time.

Thanks much,
Wolfman

 

Dear Wolfman,

 

I'll tell you how I do these two signs, but that doesn't mean you won't still see some variations out there.

I do the sign for the color brown a little higher on my cheek than the sign for beer.
I sign beer on my lower cheek, near my chin. Some people sign beer using a small circular movement, but it seems like most of my associates just use two small downward movements.  I just grabbed my friend Byron Cantrell (Deaf) who was on break from teaching a class and asked him how he signs BEER and BROWN.  He does the two signs the exact same and relies on context to make the difference clear.

In looking at a few ASL dictionaries, I notice that one says to do BROWN with a single movement, another says to do it with a double movement. (So, you see, the dictionaries themselves do not agree.)

Here are some observations.  

From what I've seen, BEER is almost always done with a double movement.
I've seen BROWN done with either a single or double movement.

I've seen BROWN done with an emphasized single longer movement to indicate "dark or deep" brown.

I've seen BEER done to the side of the chin and on the side of the cheek.

I've only seen BROWN done on the side of the cheek and never on the side of the chin
Brown has an older version that reminds me of the sign for "water" dripping.  This sign uses a loose four hand, palm left, held out and slightly to the right, at about the level of your abdomen, shakes downward twice.)

 

Bill.