Here are more words with internal -watashi rhymes:
橋渡し (hashiwatashi: bridge building, mediation; intermediary)
bridge + to cross overThis kind of “bridge building” is almost always metaphorical—more along the lines of what Obama is busy doing in Asia than what crews are doing in the middle of San Francisco Bay right now. But given the high degree of precision in Japanese words such as this one, Obama’s actions don’t quite qualify as 橋渡し. A native speaker tells me, “The expression is used when an intermediary starts a relationship between two parties who have been strangers to each other. The United States and Japan have been closely related and interdependent for a long time. What Obama has been doing with Japan is not 橋渡し. Commodore Perry did the 橋渡し!”
差し渡し (sashiwatashi: distance across; diameter)
difference + to cross over
I think this calls for a few rhyming sentences!
私は橋渡しで、渡し箸を避けようとしました.
Watashi wa hashiwatashi de, watashibashi o sakeyō to shimashita.
To build bridges, I tried to avoid laying my chopsticks across the top of my bowl.私 (watashi: I)
渡し箸 (watashibashi: resting one’s chopsticks across the top of one’s bowl) to cross over + chopsticks
避 (sa(keru): to avoid)差し渡しは正しいか。可笑しいなぁ。
Sashiwatashi wa tadashii ka. Okashii nā.
Is the diameter right? Seems funny!正しい (tadashii: correct)
可笑しい (okashii: funny, weird) can + to laughCan laugh?! Nice ateji combination!
