Formalities.

Does "Got it" sound rude to you when used as "I understand" or "I have an understanding of what you mean"? For example:

A: Let's do the worksheet next. The text for it is on page 94.
B: OK, got it! (flips to page)

I personally didn't think anything of it, so I'm serious in wondering what you guys think. Is this rude to you, or a normal phrase?

Cultural Differences and Informal Tongues
The reason I ask is because, according to my colleague, it's apparently much too informal to be used in school. I was coming back from class today when one of my co-teachers pulled me aside and told me to stop using "got it" to her in front of the students (because she is my superior so it's rude). She was actually very serious and was telling me this in a manner where she was trying to help me more than be rude or bossy.
To be honest, my initial reaction was that of surprise. I would prefer to use phrases like "got it" in front of the kids because it's colloquel English (the stuff they aren't going to get out of the textbooks and the reason I am here) and I hadn't really even thought about the phrase usage before; it just comes naturally. It had, however, apparently been bugging my coworker for a while and she wanted to address it with me. The thing is, the teacher had already told the students that they should not use the phrase and that I, too, would be discontinuing my usage before she talked to me about it... so explaining my view and the point (of informal phrases being OK amongst colleagues in class, especially a language class) to her and then continuing to use it would probably be a lost cause. Better yet, the teacher's suggested replacement response was, "Yes, ma'am" (or something along the lines of understanding with "ma'am")... and she wanted to know if I had suggestions for more appropriate phrases.

oh, cultural differences... here we go again!

I was really suprised that this issue came up, but I said I would try to stop using the phrase and that I didn't think "ma'am" was the best substitute. I think it might be a good thing the topic did come up, though, because this is definately more of a cultural difference than a language lesson in many ways and I am happy about the opportunity to address it (just wish the students hadn't already been addressed as well...).

I explained to my colleague that, yes, the phrase "got it" is informal and idiomatic, so using something like, "Yes, I understand what you mean" or "Yes, I will do that right now" might sound more "formal".... but that it can also sound less natural in a way because it's a cultural trait. We are not expected to address anyone of a higher status in formal terms. The teacher asked how I would responded to my teachers when I was in high school, and I explained that I might have said the same thing ("got it") without being repremanded... especially with the teachers I knew well through different activities and such. I received a bewildered look at that one... but it was an interesting conversation.

You guys might have to back me up on this, but while the topic was on the burner, I also explained that using "ma'am" with younger teachers might come off as sounding somewhat offensive, actually (think about this sort of honorific lingo coming from one teacher to another in a classroom setting), but - in the end - I did promise to stop using "got it" (and replace it with something a little more formal-sounding).

Yep, and then I almost used "got it" to denote that I had understood the point she was making before I walked away...

Honorific Language and Japanese
This "honorific" language is actually what made some of the JLPT reading tests hard while I was practicing for the tests. Sometimes, the difference is just adding an "O" in front of the word, but there are oftentimes totally different vocabulary to be used with your superiors. I am generally "excused" from offending people with not using this form as foreigner (some minor exceptions like the situation do occur), but the separate form of Japanese called keigo (that is used with people superior to you) really is difficult and like a different dialect or language to me sometimes. And while I know we have more honorable forms like, "hyggelig aa treffe Dem" in Norwegian (and it exists in German), but it's not quite comparable to what you find with Japanese; it's much more strict and structured here. Furthermore, most Japanese people have to take a big test when they apply for jobs to make sure they are proficient in using keigo. If you mess it up, it really isn't taken lightly. The one plus side is that there is really only one set of kanji (Chinese characters) used, while I am pretty sure Manderin Chinese has a separate set of formal kanji (characters) like keigo. No wonder it's the most difficult language in the world...

Moral.

So a moral for this little story (other than that Japanese is frickin' hard) is that I have to come up with something better than "got it" and hopefully my coworker gained some perspective on American culture, but it's really interesting what can offend people here....