You say, "Petite." I say, "I don't get it."

As a rule I'm scaaaaaaaared to order clothing online.  Terrified, really.  I've successfully ordered a few pairs of shoes and a shirt or two, but pants?  Dresses?  Shorts?  No way!  Well...I decided to take a risk a few weeks ago and ordered jeans from Old Navy online.  I held my breath for the 7 days it took for them to arrive.  I opened the package, very excited , and tossed them on the bed.  OK, let me take a step back.  I ordered a pair of skinny jeans (I'm fully embracing this trend now, peeps, and I needed a second pair) and a pair of boot cut jeans.  Both the same size, same inseam, and both petite.  Well, from the first look it was obvious that the boot cut jeans were about 8 inches longer than the skinny jeans (which were perfect!!!).

Jump ahead to tonight when I went to return the boot cut jeans at the mall.  I talked to the sweet, young checker lady who pulled out a couple of "regular" length jeans which were about five inches shorter than the "petite" ones I had brought in.  She called her manager because she had now joined my "I'm totally confused" club.  The manager was a young man, shorter than I...I'm thinking, YAY, if anyone will be able to solve my "petite" confusion, it'd be this guy.  Well, he tried explaining what he thought (he admitted he wasn't sure) what the "petite" was referring to.  Something about it having nothing to do with smallness or shortness (huh?), something about the way a person is shaped (insert him doing the feminine hour glass shape in the air...multiple times).  Ya, the sweet checker lady and I were both still totally perplexed.

So, this (as my dearly departed elderly neighbor would've said) darn supposed (su-po-zed) "petite" girl needs some fashion clarification.  Help!