A little knowledge can be a bad thing...

As I was leaving the Gap, a cap-sleeve shirt caught my eye. I was looking for an "M" in tan when the sales lady came up to me. She asked me what size I was looking for and I told her. Of course, they didn't have any tan mediums. She offered me a white medium and I told her that I liked the tan ones.

It's important to point out that this entire dialogue was going on in Japanese. I was quite proud of myself for understanding what she was saying, let alone for being able to talk back to her. I was so proud, in fact, that I began to think that maybe I was wrong for thinking [and saying] that I have two completely worthless Japanese teachers.

So then the Gap lady offered me a tan small, to which I replied, "Wakige tight desu." She laughed for just a second and then composed herself. I thought, Oh, she's laughing cause it's strange that a gaijin would know the word for armpit but not the word for tight... [which, you have to admit, is a little strange...]

I left the Gap without making any purchases, but feeling quite good about myself. Then I got home and told S... The retelling was going quite well. I was smiling, he was smiling, he was saying how great it was that I understood her, and then I got to the wakige part... The minute I said, "Wakige tight desu," and remembered her short [and guffaw like] laugh, I realized my mistake. You see, armpit is "waki" in Japanese. I know this... I do. I also know that when you add "ge" to the end of certain body parts it means said body part's hair. The woman probably didn't understand the word "tight" and instead thought that I was saying that my armpit hair was too long for a small size shirt with such short sleeves.