Living in Japan without a perfect grasp of the language can be interesting at times, like trying to describe symptoms of an illness to the doctor. Simple things like "my head hurts" can be communicated in English, or through pointing and gesture, but more complex symptoms require explanation. This is where I ran into trouble.

"I have no food."

"What?"

"There is no food."

"Huh."

Sensing that there was something not quite right, I tried saying what I meant in a different way: "The feeling that I want to eat, I don't have."

"Oh, you have no APPETITE"

I had mistaken the word for Food(stuffs) [shokuryou] and Appetite [shokuyoku] and in doing so thoroughly confused the doctor. I can only imagine his thoughts as a patient sitting in his office confessed to having no food, and thinking of my inability to pay for the doctor's visit.