Know your Japanese

A woman I know who doesn't speak Japanese very well, saw a really cute Japanese baby sitting in a stoller.  She heard the mother speaking Japanese, so she thought she would speak to the mother in Japanese to be polite.  She asked the mother, in Japanese, "how old is your baby?"  To her surprise, the mother's face turned white and she quickly pushed the stroller away.  The woman's friend burst out laughing and told the woman, "you just asked the mother, how much does the baby cost?"

On a similar note, my cousin went to Japan to visit her friend, who was living in Japan with her Aunt for a year.  It is customary, when someone asks if you would like more to drink, you politely say, no thank you or "Kekko desu."  Well, my cousin was perplexed whenever her friend's Aunt offered her more to drink and she said no thank you in Japanese, her friend's Aunt got a weird look on her face.  One day, my cousin's friend burst out laughing when she heard my cousin say "Kekkon desu" after her Aunt offered my cousin more to drink.  My cousin had been saying, "I'm married" whenever the Aunt offered her more to drink and my cousin wasn't married at the time!