Woman's Risqué Sign Language Fail in Front of Family Backfires Hilariously

A woman was "mortified" after insinuating intercourse with her fiancé through sign language only to discover her future mother-in-law knew what she was saying.

The now-viral Reddit post, titled, "TIFU: My mother-in-law knows sign language," has been upvoted 15,200 times since it was shared in the subreddit "Today I F**ked Up." Redditor @jikiyoung shared the post on June 16, which has received over 500 comments.

According to the website Start ASL, American Sign Language is the "natural language" used by about 500,000 deaf people in the United States and Canada. In addition, 28 million people in the country have some amount of hearing loss, and 2 million of them are deaf. Around 10 percent of those people were born deaf.

The Post

The original poster (OP) is a 20-year-old female, and her fiancé is 19. They've been learning American Sign Language for a couple of months, with the woman revealing that she took classes when she was much younger, but never learned more than the basics. She admitted she was finally able to get her fiancé to learn it with her since they've been working service jobs for a number of years, "and it's just a good skill to have."

"Well, we have taken a more personal use to it and communicate with each other in times where it would be rude to convey what we want to say to each other (i.e. 'Let's go home,' 'I'm bored,' 'I'm hungry,' etc.)," the woman explained. "So with that all said, I'm about two and a half shots deep in some vodka. I had just spent two weeks in quarantine with COVID, haven't seen my fiancé since then, and was feeling frisky."

They were at the dinner table at the time, and her partner's mother and sister were making sandwiches about 10 feet away from them within view. The OP "signaled" to her partner, signing, "penis, vagina, upstairs?"

However, the woman didn't see her future mother-in-law watching her sign to him. All of a sudden, his face was turning red, and he looked at his mother, then back to the OP and said, "She knows sign language."

The OP admitted she was "instantly mortified," and her face turned "bright red hot." However, her partner's mom "laughed" since they were both "red as cherries." The Redditor got up due to the embarrassment, leaving the room for a few seconds.

The OP continued: "I cannot believe I did that in front of her. I even tried to make it less obvious using [lesser]-known signs, but she watches a lot of shows about deaf/HoH [hard of hearing] people and has picked up on quite a few of the signs. Thankfully, she is a very relaxed and casual person and wasn't upset over the sudden silent sex initiation by her daughter-in-law."

Although the woman admits she's really embarrassed still, and the situation will "haunt" her forever, she's sure it will be a "hilarious joke in five years."

In an edit, she revealed the term "fiancé" is "more of a loose term," and they use it because they "realize" they are quite young and aren't quite ready to get married for a few years.

"We are technically engaged, hence the usage in this post, but our relationship is right between 'promise ring' and 'serious engagement' stage for those that misunderstood (best way I can describe it)," she said. "Sorry for the confusion or displeasure this may have caused!"

Redditors React

Numerous comments poured in over the viral situation, with some Redditors seeing the humor in it. "I hope she remembers this on your wedding day, and she finishes her toast with a traditional 'Penis, vagina, upstairs, OK now. Go make baby.'"

Another user thinks they should "cherish that moment," and didn't stop there. "This is hilarious," they added. "Makes me actually want to learn some more sign language solely for this purpose. Don't feel embarrassed either. I'm sure the mom will find a great laugh and story to tell later on. That's just some hilariously good comedic luck."

Meanwhile, another user thought the whole thing was "hilarious," but asked, "How did your fiancé fail to let you know she knows ASL? If you regularly use it for discrete communication, that little fact is a wee bit important."

Another thought the situation was "actually kind of sweet. Adults are mostly just kids in older bodies. In many ways, I still feel like I'm 18."

A Redditor thought being embarrassed in the situation is "understandable," and added, "Fortunately sounds like all three of you have a great relationship, and the embarrassment will pass quickly. This will be a funny memory faster than you think most likely."

One Redditor couldn't believe the OP's partner's mom "knowing sign language never came up when they started learning it. The OP replied: "Somehow that was missed! He thought he told me about it and was under the impression I knew, so we both learned the hard way that I didn't know his mom signed and that he never told me about it."

A use thought people should "treat sign language like any other language... Don't ever assume people don't know them."

Another user isn't sure why someone would do that, adding, "You learn a new language to open up a whole new path of communication with people. Why would you be surprised at the people you can now all of a sudden communicate with?"

Newsweek reached out to @jikiyoung for comment.

This isn't the only viral moment involving families. A dad was supported this week for hiding his child from his family. Meanwhile, a woman was praised last week for revealing a "disgusting" family secret. In addition, a woman was backed for telling her family to "beg" her husband "for forgiveness."