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"Any interference would not be appropriate," the council's chairman Wiriya Namsiriphongphan said in response to a query from a PPP member as to whether it was possible to change the way deaf people referred to PPP leader and Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

During a recent televised parliamentary session, translators touched their nose when Samak's name was mentioned. Samak's nose is widely seen as the most prominent feature on his face.

Many PPP members, however, were reportedly upset when they saw the sign.

"This is not to mock or to humiliate him. It's just the sign that deaf people can understand," Wiriya insisted Wednesday.

At the mention of Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva's name, translators moved their hand around their face and give a thumbs up. This sign refers to his initial and the fact that he is good looking.

Wiriya said if the PPP wanted to change the way deaf people referred to Samak, it must pay for the cost of holding a seminar attended by hundreds of people in a bid to determine how best to refer to Samak with another sign.

"But is it worth holding a big seminar for just one person," he said, before sarcastically added that the large seminar, if held, would probably explore how best to refer to House Speaker Yongyuth Tiyapairat.

Yongyuth previously served as an executive of PPP.

Wiriya said the sign language for the deaf was constructed naturally and any attempt to interfere would mean a fabricated language.