History Main / MimingTheCues

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Sometimes, a person gets caught in a situation where they want to say something to someone else, but doesn't want to be the one to say it, mainly because they're too embarrassed to show themselves or only one of their friends can speak for them. So, they perform a game of Charades behind another person's back to tell their friend what to say to that person. This is obviously so they don't attract the attention of the person or people the friend is trying to speak to. Hilarity often ensues as the friend sometimes misinterprets the gestures that their pal is signaling towards them.

* In ''Film/DownPeriscope'', the ''Stingray'' is running full silent at one point to avoid detection by their opponent sub, the ''Orlando''. Cmdr. Dodge spots his sonar operator's rack of cassette tapes of whale songs and is inspired into a plan, so he gets Sonar's attention and mimes for him to engage in some whale mimickry, gesturing to the tapes and his own gaping mouth. What follows is a couple minutes of the pair constantly misinterpreting each other, especially when fellow seaman Nitro joins in the "conversation" while displaying no obvious hints that he understands what Dodge is trying to convey to Sonar.

Sometimes, a person gets caught in a situation where they want to say something to someone else, but doesn't want to be the one to say it, mainly because they're too embarrassed to show themselves or only one of their friends can speak for them. So, they perform a game of Charades behind another person's back to tell their friend what to say to that person. This is obviously so they don't attract the attention of the person or people the friend is trying to speak to. Hilarity often ensues as the friend sometimes misinterprets the gestures that his pal is signaling towards him.

Sometimes, a person gets caught in a situation where he or she wants to say something to someone else, but doesn't want to be the one to say it, mainly because they're too embarrassed to show themselves or only one of their friends can speak for them. So, they perform a game of Charades behind another person's back to tell their friend what to say to that person. This is obviously so they don't attract the attention of the person or people the friend is trying to speak to. Hilarity often ensues as the friend sometimes misinterprets the gestures that his pal is signaling towards him.

--> '''Awesome:''' Um... After I got off the overnight, I, I decided I needed to clear my head. So, I went for a run. In Griffith Park. No cell phones there. So... I'm running and, I just, I heard something, in a tree, and there's a, there's a cat, a hurt cat, I go to see if it needed medical attention, then I realized, ... ... ... [[BearsAreBadNews It's a bear.]] Yeah, yeah! The cat's a bear! It's a bear and it jumps out at me and it attacks and it's like it's angry at me for some reason this bear RAAARHGH Yeah! And I... cut off its head! ... Yeah, babe, I had to decapitate the bear. Self defense. In order to survive. I'm just glad you weren't there to see it, it was [[IncrediblyLamePun really grizzly]].

* ''Series/FawltyTowers'': In "Communication Problems" Basil is trying to give Polly the name of a horse he won money on (Dragonfly), since she's holding it for him and they have to quickly convince Sybil that she bet on the horse instead. Sybil knows the name, so Polly needs the right one. Basil makes flapping motions and points to Sybil, because he refers to her as a dragon sometimes, but Polly incorporates other "pet" names first, leading to "flying tart" and "birdbrain". (She does get it eventually.)

This is a sibling trope to EarpieceConversation. Can lead to NonverbalMiscommunication. Compare HandSignals.

* In ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'', Nani coaches Lilo via hand signals through a talk with social worker Cobra Bubbles about how Nani is doing as her guardian. It goes well at first, but then Nani makes the mistake of raising a fist in triumph and Lilo interprets it as "getting disciplined." Things swiftly go downhill from there.

-->'''Tracey:'''My cobra, Ramsey....He got sick...So I took him to the vet''(Liz gives him a thumbs up and nods)'' Then my thumb got caught in my buttocks, I nodded my head til it came out.

This is a sibling trope to EarpieceConversation.

Can lead to NonverbalMiscommunication.

Compare HandSignals.

* In ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'', during the scene where Peter Venkman is explaining their fees to the hotel manager, Egon Spengler is subtly feeding him the numbers via hand signals.

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* In ''[[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe Despicable Me 2]]'', Gru tries to get out of [[AbhorrentAdmirer a date he doesn't want]] by [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6svF-o6X_w trying to get Agnes to pretend he isn't there]].

* In {{Film/Ghostbusters}}, during the scene where Peter Venkman is explaining their fees to the hotel manager, Egon Spengler is subtly feeding him the numbers via hand signals.

* [[TropesAreFlexible A variation of this trope]] shows up in the ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'' episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS1E2ClassClownBogus Class Clown Bogus]]". [[spoiler: Tommy is struggling to come up with the right answer to a math problem, when in comes Bogus who is able to help out, by writing the correct answer on the blackboard directly behind the teacher, allowing Tommy to give the correct answer.]]

* In episode 12 of ''WesternAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', Jaune is asked a question in class that he does not know the answer to. Pyrrha tries to mime the answer, "night vision". Jaune answers, "Binoculars?"

* A variation of this trope shows up in the ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'' episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS1E2ClassClownBogus Class Clown Bogus]]". [[spoiler: Tommy is struggling to come up with the right answer to a math problem, when in comes Bogus who is able to help out, by writing the correct answer on the blackboard directly behind the teacher, allowing Tommy to give the correct answer.]]

* In ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'', Nani gives signals to Lilo when the social worker, Cobra Bubbles, asks Lilo how well Nani is taking care of her. All goes well until Lilo misinterprets Nani cheering her on by holding up her fist as beating her.

!Examples

* Used in a LordDarcy story, ''The Napoli Express''. Lord Darcy was undercover, so he couldn't investigate the murder directly. When the official investigator is getting advice from Master Sean, Darcy uses hand signals to pass suggestions on to Sean, who then talks about what Darcy would do were he there.

* In one episode of ''TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'', Zack has to fill in for his brother for an interview when Cody accidentally dyes his hair red and is too embarrassed to show himself to the interviewer. He tries to act out the words to tell Zack what to say, but he ends up misinterpreting every signal that Cody sends out to him.
* ''{{Blackadder}}'': In the first episode Baldrick & Percy help Edmund by hinting how many and who he should claim to have killed, as he reports his killings to Prince Harry.
* Parodied on {{Chuck}}, where Chuck tries to instruct Captain Awesome on the lie to tell to his wife about where he's been all night. As Awesome is a BadLiar, he completely misunderstands what Chuck is trying to say and spirals into absurdity.

--> '''Awesome:''' Um... After I got off the overnight, I, I decided I needed to clear my head. So, I went for a run. In Griffith Park. No cell phones there. So... I'm running and, I just, I heard something, in a tree, and there's a, there's a cat, a hurt cat, I go to see if it needed medical attention, then I realized, ... ... ... [[EverythingsWorseWithBears It's a bear.]] Yeah, yeah! The cat's a bear! It's a bear and it jumps out at me and it attacks and it's like it's angry at me for some reason this bear RAAARHGH Yeah! And I... cut off its head! ... Yeah, babe, I had to decapitate the bear. Self defense. In order to survive. I'm just glad you weren't there to see it, it was [[IncrediblyLamePun really grizzly]].

* In ''LiloAndStitch'', Nani gives signals to Lilo when the social worker, Cobra Bubbles, asks Lilo how well Nani is taking care of her. All goes well until Lilo misinterprets Nani cheering her on by holding up her fist as beating her.