vanilla vs. vitamin

[Roxanne Morris]

ok vanilla and vitamin the same sign? when i give them vitamins they think theyre getting ice cream and vice versa. Any suggestions?

[bjcengh]

I was sorta wondering how they could be the same, and when I went to the commtech website they show both as a "V" shaking on the side of the body.

We sign them:
Vanilla non-dominat hand in a closed fist, back of the hand facing up. and the dominant hand circling a "V" , fingers pointing up, on the back of non-dom hand. Like your stirring vanilla. It is similar to the sign for Chocolate with a V instead of a C.

Vitamin we sign V-I-T.

[c01dunlap]

Verbally I say "vitamin PILL" - perhaps you could sign vitamin-pill and vanilla-ice cream to differentiate. Thanks for the new sign; I'll add it. ;)

BTW, question for the experts: would both of those phrases be signed in the reverse word order? (PILL VITAMIN and ICE CREAM VANILLA)? I haven't yet worked much on word order, but I'm told it is more like French, and that the noun goes first and then descriptors (e.g. IN ROOM GREAT, GREEN vs. "In the great green room" as the start of Goodnight Moon story book).