Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign...

Mixed signals:

A BBC children's TV presenter has been accused of getting his sign language embarrassingly wrong. CBeebies character Mr Tumble - aka presenter Justin Fletcher - aims to greet hard-of-hearing tots by signing: "I'm happy to see you."

Jamie Miller, who works for the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, says he was stunned when he watched Something Special with daughter Kate, five. Mr Miller, 32, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, said: "The signs for 'happy' and 'f***ing' are quite similar but it was an awful mistake to make.

"Katie, who is learning sign language, asked what the gesture meant. I didn't know what to tell her."

"Really fucking happy?"

The BBC denied making a mistake and said they were using Makaton signals which are different to British Sign Language.

I'll have to try that: "No, no. I didn't tell you to stick it up your ass crosswise, you effing piker. That's what you thought I said, but it was actually Swahili for 'you're a really lovely person.' Your mistake."