кукушка поет…
remind me what it means to be one of the President’s Men?
Pop Goes the Weasel
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8z_nR0cOOU
Even though it’s old this song is still real hip. broke some records!
Excuse me Mr. Officer
八 兄弟们 用 口 和 言 说 儿子: “你也是兄弟”.
的话了我. 我的心理很悦
言八口儿=说
心八口儿=悦
Vocabulary
仄 narrow tilt oblique Zè
广 broad
兼 grasp two things both at once
廉 side wall; incorruptible honest inexpensive
侧 lean incline lateral side
秉 grasp hold maintain
庆 celebration qìng
庄 manor zhuāng
压 pressure yā
另 other Lìng
別 don’t bié guǎi
拐 turn guǎi
Look alikes that don’t sound at all alike.
之
Zhī Posessive particle; “of”, ‘s
http://hanziyuan.net/#之
乏
Fá Fall short of, to be tired
贬
biǎn. Deride, derogatory
http://hanziyuan.net/#贬
去 大 囗
去 qu to go
This character is so simplified/deformed there is almost no point to its etymology. The top plus used to be 大 da big. The bottom si 厶 means private personal but is often as here used as a pictorial element. It used to be something like enclosure 囗 The idea was a big man on top, stepping out from the city. It may be easier to think of the top as earth tu 土 and the bottom as an arrow. that is a false etymology but like I said this character is terribly deformed due to the standardization and simplification of the Song dynasty font.
A New Cold War: Global Strategy
Path dependent variables like history economies culture language trade geographye are behind the reasons why the USA and China will wind up in a new cold war.
Here they are in summary.
1) China is a mercantilist state capitalist regime
2) China is a dictatorship
These two facts alone doom the U.S. and China to inevitable conflict. It gets worse.
3) Xi Jinping has consistently concentrated all power and decision making in his own hands, freezing other factions (Jiang Zemin, Li Keqiang) out of power, whilst dissolving the politburo and rewriting the constitution to allow for a president (Chairman in fact…) to have a life long tenure (no more term limits). This is the exact opposite of what neoliberals predicted would happen as China grew richer.
4) Despite promising not to militarize China’s man made islands China (Xi) did exactly that.
5) China’s human rights record and
6) Political corruption
remain serious problems but never truly addressed or solved, again contrary to the neoliberals rosy predictions. Enemy of the party? No human rights, de facto. In the wrong faction? Brought up on corruption. In the right faction? Amnesties deferrals of prosecution etc.
Add to all that
7) unfair trading practices (dumping, subsidies)
8) monetary policy (currency manipulation)
9) the great firewall (mercantilism)
10) i.p. theft
11) espionage
Welcome to the new cold war. :/
https://tinyurl.com/anewcoldwarglobalstrategy
I also didn’t mention the 12) naval arms race, 13) the space arms race, or the ideological competition to attract allies. But the crowning achivement is their little bio war experiment which escaped from their lab the French built and then got kicked out of:
only men (soldiers), with blood type A (Europeans), preferably the older ones in command, because they want to seize as many of their resources after victory as possible.
Pointing that out is unseemly.
ALL fake losing Trump had to do to win the election was play that card hard and long and blame China relentlessly. He didn’t.
Sad!
Fortunately, though an authoritarian autocracy, Russia is no longer a dictatorship. Russia will wind up a U.S. ally against China as part of a grand coalition which will isolate and contain China. Ultimately it will break the CCP. Liberalism’s “peace through trade” and “political reform through trade” was self-indulgent folly. That’s over now. So it’s time to crush the dictators again. Yay team.
All I write here is true regardless of what President Biden wants.
We’re looking at interactions of literally billions of people. No one man, not even the President of the USA, can ignore history language trade culture geography and climate
From what I see Biden or his team know about
1) China
2) Marxist ideology
So they will founder a bit at first with all their hopey changey failed b.s.,
and Xi will decide “clueless suckers are in power! take advantage of them!”
this will provoke the undecided to see the ugly truth and make those who STILL believe in all that profitable happy talk to look like fools.
I would however like the U.S. to stop failing at foreign policy.
First chapter is free.
https://tinyurl.com/anewcoldwarglobalstrategy
Best wishes,
Eric
Clausewitz
Clausewitz was wrong: war, though a political instrument, is not the continuation of politics because in war compromise is always impossible, whereas compromise is the essence of politics. In a merely political clash people lose office to their contender, but in war, however fought, people kill and die. It is simply incorrect to equate war and the political and results in failure as can be seen from all of German military history since 1870, and in Japanese history too. One must read Clausewitz due to his influence but one must read him very critically due to his errors. See: 1918, see also, 1945.
西湖水干 雷锋塔倒
西湖水干
雷锋塔倒
xi1hu2 shui3 gan1
lei2 feng1 ta3 dao3
[Until] the West Lake runs dry
[or] the thundering tower collapses…
slanguage
zan, as in dian zan is xian xian bei 赞 first first clam = praise
zha = explode 炸了 as in frying things or burning bamboom
niu bi = force the cow, cow as in coolio bi as in force 牛逼 riches on the road = forced bi
挺好 rather good the ting t tishoupang ting it’s a person assigned a mission on a long road with their hand in use.
蛮好 bug transformed into good
lihai a thousand scorpions cut off the tongue terribly impressive
厉害
棒 wooden cudgel wood+feng big stick
屌爆 diao bao exploding dicks
don’t say hi by asking if they ate a meal anymore that’s totally outdated.
称程秤(稱) cheng
称 程 秤(稱) cheng
禾he2 grain
In the following characters 禾 appears, yet all four 称, 程, 秤(稱), sound like cheng.
The common semantic concept is: weighing (of e.g. grain) on a balance (which looks like the figure for grain).
称 cheng1 to weigh, (publicly) then state (proudly) the accurate measured weight: thou didst weigh and state proudly thy measure of grain.
https://hanziyuan.net/#%E7%A7%B0
程, cheng2 rule regulation order namely the regulation and rule of what the weighed object weighs, the official weights and measures rule. Top right is “mouth” 口 bottom right is king 王 The mouth of the king states the order, the rule, as to the proper measure of grain. https://hanziyuan.net/#程
秤 cheng4 the scale, balance on which the grain is weighed, later became also “steelworks”. Right component means “level”
稱 cheng4 this is a variant character of 秤
仅 劝 权
仅 劝 权
Often times 又 is used in simplification, often representing something to do with a bird. Usually the simplification is based on a cursive representation of the much more complicated original character. The simplification tends to destroy the semantic content.
仅 劝 权
In all three the you2 又 character is a simplification. We can try to impose meaning on it but the etymology may disagree with our imagination.
仅
仅 Jin3 means “only”: a man has only one friend? This must be a compound concept character since there is no phonetic clue.
https://hanziyuan.net/#仅
劝
劝 Quan4 means “exhort”: right hand + power = exhort. Li 力 here is both semantic and phonetic.
https://hanziyuan.net/#%E5%8A%9D
权
权 Quan2 means “right” as in “to have a right”. Structured/Patterned/Wooden thing on the left, hand on the right. So this is a material possesory right, not an abstract idea or ideal of what one supposes to be right. There must then be a word for right which uses either the speech 言 or heart radical 心 for those indicate communication and mentation respectively. Yet I know not such word.
https://hanziyuan.net/#%E6%9D%83
Chinese is a journey out of ignorance.
票
Piao – Varieties of floating
漂 票 嫖 瞟 瓢 剽 飘 骠 螵
float(water) ticket whoring glance ladle rob float(air) white-horse nest-of-mantis-eggs
Biao
镖 膘 標
dart lard topmost-branches
跪举火把虔诚像道光
全世界都在学中国话
Quán shìjiè dōu zàixué zhōngguó huà
The whole world is studying Chinese
孔夫子的话越来越国际化
kǒng fūzǐ dehuà yuè lái yuè guójì huà
Confucius’ words are more and more an international language
全世界都在讲中国话
quán shìjiè dōu zài jiǎng zhōngguó huà
The whole world is speaking Chinese
我们说的话让世界认真听话
wǒmen shuō dehuà ràng shìjiè rènzhēn tīnghuà
That which we are saying, let all listen to attentively
跪举火把虔诚像道光
Guì jǔ huǒbǎ qiánchéng xiàng dàoguāng
Kneel, raise the torch, righteous and true like the way of light!
西方田地落谷成仓
Xī fāng tián dì luò gǔ chéng cāng
the grain of the western fields falls into the granary
古人象形声意辨恶良
Gǔrén xiàng xíng shēng yì biàn è liáng
Ancient Chinese pictographs’ sound and meaning distinguish evil from good
魃魈魁鬾魑魅魍魉
Bá xiāo kuí qi chī mèi wǎng liǎng
drought demon, elf, chief, child ghost, mountain demon, magic, sprite, fairy
又双叒叕
Yòu shuāng ruò zhuó
again paired obedient joined
火炎焱燚
Huǒ yán yàn yì
fire flame flaming blaze
水沝淼㵘
Shuǐ zhuǐ miǎo màn
water rivers flood inundation
㙓𨰻
Kuí bǎo
earth treasure
茕茕孑立
Qióngqióng jié lì
stand alone in desolation
沆瀣一气
hàngxiè yīqì
acting in collusion
踽踽独行
jǔjǔ dúxíng
walking alone
醍醐灌顶
tíhú guàndǐng
be filled with wisdom
绵绵瓜瓞
mián mián guā dié
May your family grow and prosper like spreading melon vines!
奉为圭臬
fèng wéi guī niè
revere as the dear standard
龙行龘龘
Lóng xíng dádá
the path of the dragon he is a good man
犄角旮旯 Jījiǎo gālá
angled corners
娉婷袅娜
Pīng tíng niǎonà
graceful and slender
涕泗滂沱
Tì sì pāngtuó
torrential tears
呶呶不休
Náonáo bùxiū
an endless stream of words clamoring ceaselessly
不稂不莠
bù láng bù yǒu
neither useful nor injurious
卬
咄嗟蹀躞
Duōjiē diéxiè
cry out step by step
耄耋饕餐 Màodié tāo cān
a feast for the elderly
囹圄蘡薁
Língyǔ yīngyù
a kind of prison
觊觎龃龉
Jìyú jǔyǔ
coveting discord
狖轭鼯轩
Yòu è wú xuān
a flying carriage
怙恶不悛 Hù è bù quān
irredeemable impenitent
其靁虺虺
Qí léi huīhuī
its thundering rumble
腌臜孑孓
Ā zā jiéjué
clumsy writhing like worms
陟罚臧否 Zhì fá zāng pǐ
advance, punish, righteous, evil
针砭时弊
Zhēnbiān shíbì
point out problems
鳞次栉比
lín cì zhìbǐ
row upon row
一张一翕
Yī zhāng yī xī
one by one
我们中国的汉字,
Wǒmen zhōngguó de hànzì,
our Chinese characters
落笔成画留下
luòbǐ chéng huà liú xià
falling brushestrokes leave behind a painting
五千年的历史
wǔqiān nián de lìshǐ
five thousand years of history
让世界都认识,
let the whole world recognize them
我们中国的汉字,
Wǒmen zhōngguó de hànzì,
our Chinese characters
一撇一捺都是故事
yī piē yī nà dōu shì gùshì
each brushstroke is an ancient story
现在全世界各地,到处有中国字,
Xiànzài quán shìjiè gèdì, dàochù yǒu zhòng guó zì,
Now each place on earth is reached by Chinese characters
黄皮肤的人骄傲的把头抬起
huáng pífū de rén jiāo’ào de bǎtóu tái qǐ
The yellow skinned man raises his head with pride
我们中国的汉字,
Wǒmen zhōngguó de hànzì,
our Chinese characters
一平一仄谱写成诗
Yīpíng yī zè pǔxiě chéng shī
a line and a square become a poem
扁擔寬 板凳長
扁擔 想綁在板凳上
哥哥 弟弟 坡前坐
坡上 臥著一隻鵝
茕茕孑立
Qióngqióng jié lì
stand alone in desolation
扁擔寬 板凳長
沆瀣一气
hàngxièyīqì
act in collusion with
踽踽独行 jǔ jǔ dúxíng
to walk alone
扁擔 想綁在板凳上
绵绵瓜瓞
mián mián guā dié
May your family grow and prosper like spreading melonvines!
奉为圭臬
fèng wéi guī niè
look up to as the standard
板凳 不讓 扁擔 綁在板凳上
优美旋律白宮商角微羽 Yōuměi xuánlǜ báigōng shāng jiǎo wēi yǔ
a beautiful melody in the white house and wall street
众人皆说成之于语故成语 Zhòngrén jiē Shuō chéng zhī yú yǔ gù chéngyǔ
everyone is talking about Chinese idioms
扁擔 偏要綁在板凳上
扁擔寬 板凳長 扁擔 想綁在板凳上
倫敦瑪莉蓮 買了件旗袍送 媽媽
莫斯科的夫司基 愛上牛肉麵疙瘩
各種顏色的皮膚 各種顏色的頭髮
嘴裡唸的 說的 開始流行中國話
多少年我們苦練 英文發音和文法
這幾年 換他們 捲著舌頭學
平上去入的變化 平平仄仄平平仄
好聰明的中國人 好優美的中國話
扁擔寬 板凳長 扁擔 想綁在板凳上
板凳 不讓 扁擔 綁在板凳上
扁擔 偏要綁在板凳上
板凳 偏偏 不讓 扁擔 綁在那板凳上
到底扁擔寬 還是板凳長
哥哥 弟弟 坡前坐
坡上 臥著一隻鵝 坡下 流著一條河
哥哥說 寬寬的河 弟弟說 白白的鵝
鵝要過河 河要渡鵝
不知是那鵝過河 還是河渡鵝
全世界 都在學 中國話
孔夫子的話 越來越國際化
全世界 都在講 中國話
我們說的話 讓世界都認真聽話
紐約蘇珊娜 開了間禪風lounge bar
柏林來的沃夫岡 拿胡琴配著電吉他
各種顏色的皮膚 各種顏色的頭髮
嘴裡唸的 說的 開始流行中國話
多少年我們苦練 英文發音和文法
這幾年 換他們 捲著舌頭學
平上去入的變化 仄仄平平仄仄平
好聰明的中國人 好優美的中國話
有個小孩叫小杜 上街打醋又買布
買了布 打了醋 回頭看見鷹抓兔
放下布 擱下醋 上前去追鷹和兔…
不得不 bu de bu
不得不 bu de bu
“I can’t but” or “I can’t help but” or “can’t but” are good ways to remember 不得不 It means that one is compelled, that one has no choice 我不得不爱你 I have no choice but to love you, e.g. “I am unable not to love you” is a literal and comprehensible though ungrammatical English turn of that Chinese phrase.
A List of All Chinese Determinants (Pianpang: Side characters)
Determinants (pianpang) play a key role in pictophonetic characters usually operating as a semantic key to the meaning of the word, a topic classifir. Occasionally they are used as phonetic clues, even more rarely as pictorial elements. Some of these can be used independently as their own characters. Most of them only appear as a character component and cannot be used independently. Some of these are rarely used or are variant forms which are rarely used, especially in simplified Chinese.
笔画一:丨 亅 丿 乛 一 乙 乚 丶 these are pictograms / ideograms.
笔画二: 勹 匕 冫 卜 厂 刀 刂 儿 二 匚 阝 丷 几 卩 冂 力 冖 凵 八 人 亻 入 十 厶 亠 匸 讠 廴 又 wrap daggar ice wand cliff knife sword kid two box hills 8 table kneel cover power topper trap 8 person person enter 10 private (this last one is often used as a pictorial element not semantic)
笔画三: 屮 彳 巛 川 辶 寸 大 飞 干 工 弓 廾 广 己 彐 彑 巾 口 艹 马 门 宀 女 犭 山 彡 尸 饣 士 扌 氵 纟 巳 土 囗 兀 夕 小 忄 幺 弋 尢 夂 子 grass road river river road inch big fly trunk tool bow raise factory self hand (NOT pig snout) mutual towel mouth grass horse gate roof woman dog mountain shadows corpse food master hand water silk snake dirt box towering star small heart onesies dart lame stomp kid
笔画四: 比 灬 长 车 歹 斗 厄 方 风 父 戈 卝 户 火 旡 见 斤 耂 贝 毛 木 肀 牛 牜 爿 片 攴 攵 气 欠 犬 日 氏 礻 手 殳 水 瓦 尣 王 韦 文 毋 心 牙 爻 曰 月 爫 支 止 爪
comparative fire long car scapula dipper seal cangue wind axes spear ???? door fire choke see ax old clam hair tree monarch cow cow board card hammerhand hammerhand breath yawn wardog sun clan clothing hand spear water tile splitsun kind leather culture not heart tooth trigram tongue moon claws branch stop claws
笔画五: 癶 歺 甘 瓜 禾 钅 立 龙 矛 皿 母 目 疒 鸟 皮 生 石 矢 白 示 罒 田 玄 穴 疋 业 衤 用 玉
legs scapula tongue gourd grain metal standing dragon spear dish mothe eye sickbed bird skinning birth stone arrow white altar net field rope cave cloth industry clothing bucket jade
笔画六: 艸 臣 虫 而 耳 缶 艮 虍 臼 米 齐 肉 色 舌 覀 页 先 行 耒 血 羊 聿 至 舟 衣 竹 自 羽 糸 糹
Grass minister bug beard ear pottery stopped tiger mortar rice even meat color tongue bag page first crossroads plow blood goat affair arrive boat clothing bamboo feather silk silk
笔画七: 采 镸 车 辰 赤 辵 豆 谷 见 角 克 里 卤 麦 身 豕 辛 言 贝 邑 酉 豸 走 er
pluck long car dragon scarlet walk bean valley see horn helmet lining salt wheat body swine daggar words clam citygate alcohol unicorn walk foot
笔画八:青 靑 雨 齿 长 非 阜 金 釒 隶 门 靣 飠 鱼 隹 green green rain tooth long not city-gate gold gold scribe door face food fish jaybird
笔画九:风 革 骨 鬼 韭 面 首 韦 香 页 音 wind rawhide bone ghost leeks face head leather fragrant leaf music
笔画十:髟 鬯 斗 高 鬲 马 hair liquor dipper tall cauldron horse
笔画十一:黄 卤 鹿 麻 麦 鸟 鱼 yellow salt deer hemp wheat bird fish
笔画十二:鼎 黑 黾 黍 黹 pot black toad millet embroidery
笔画十三:鼓 鼠 drums mouse
笔画十四:鼻 齐 nose even
笔画十五:齿 龙 龠 tooth dragon flute
The Devil’s Diplomatic Dictionary 妖就是妖!
Whilst scrying in my dark glass I crossed upon the strange raspy voices, detached from this world, talking in strange tongues of plans for this world
“Old Nick is quite pleased! You have rendered this poor broken world a bit cheaper, shabbier, Mammon! Nick’ knows … hunger causes conflict and leads to a … bountiful harvest.” but then the other voice said “Dan, woe hi yo shen me huai de zou…” but then a scrap of paper fluttered between them. And this golden glyph appeared before both of them
交
I caught a glimpse of the notes inscribed on the paper fluttering between them. I have transcribed them carefully for your … edification.
外交 Wàijiāo external exchange, i.e. diplomacy
谈判 tánpàn negotiation (literally: discuss + split)
金圆外交 jīn yuán wàijiāo golden circle diplomacy
巨棒外交 jù bàng wàijiāo big stick ddiplomacy
希臘城邦 xīlà chéngbāng Greek city state
汉语文化圈 hànyǔ wénhuà quān Chinese cultural circle
When one traffics with darkness one must of necessity stay in shadow. Whether my transcript is faithful or faithless is for you to Jiaodge.
The Devil’s Diplomatic Dictionary: Free Sample!
Free Samples: Just like any drug dealers selling you a dream that turns out to be a nightmare Ol’ Nick gives away free samples.
Here are two Choice Items salvaged from the smoking ruins . .
Gloatees: The fine tendency of hipsters to brag with no regard to truth. It doesn’t have to be true to be relevant or effective. “It was all I could do to choke back their tears, then I took them of course to their just reward…”
YGWFD: A demonic imprecation, intended to vent. Lies eventually get exposed. And then what? Pronounced YigWeFid, purportedly the name of a lesser devil, a real joker that one.
For further … edification ..
First 元 Playing 玩 in the Courtyard 院 or the Garden 园 Far Away 远
院 元 沅 园 远 yuan4/yuan2/yuan3
courtyard first dollar river far
玩 完 wan2
toy/play finish/complete wan2
How to Learn Chinese Characters Quickly
Go on click the Free sample
you know you want to.
The Devil’s Diplomatic Dictionary: Free Supplement
Driplomat: A diplomat with a doctorate; A diplomat who tends to “leak” secret information; A diplomat with no sense of aplomb.
Diplomath: The secret science of writing words with numbers.
Diplomation: The process of replacing diplomats with artificail intelligence – which in turn powers heavily armed robot drones.
Translation Exercise
这是毛泽东的一些要做的事情: 必须发展中国特色社会主义。 必须提倡中国化宗教。 提高道德水平,公民意识和家庭美德。 改善礼节,个人诚信,职业道德。 确保干净的互联网和网络空间。 所有的待办事项都伴随着少量诗歌。 “具有中国特色的社会主义……来自五千年的中国文化……一种健全,以人为本并提高道德标准的文化……。 “还必须鼓励不在党内的知识分子帮助建立中国特色的社会主义。
btw
https://www.usubc.org/site/recent-news/marta-kolomayets–head-of-fulbright-ukraine–dies-at-61
Flash
Blood was streaming down her face like tears but more than that fresh dots of flecks of blood on her face rivers of pain tracing down the tracks of her cheeks.
The explosion was deafening, bright, blinding – airburst? She could not hear any screams, no longer could she hear their cries of pain.
Desperately she stretched out her Arms trying to hug her children, to hold them fast to her heart.
But all that were left were stumps, bright red, 朱, bleeding, burning 赤
He tried to tourniquet them. Was there any point? The red in her face was no longer inside her, it was on her, all over her.
Her eyes stared outward star struck by the blinding light. Could she even see?
They collapsed to the earth together.
紧张,坚持
紧张 jinzhang
坚持 jianchi
Jinzhang means tense, nervous; it’s literally tight+pulled.
Jianchi means persistence. Firm base on the left, grasp support maintain on the right.
Jin and Jian sound alike and look alike. They both have two vertical sticks on the left; that is a simplifaction of chen 臣 which is a picture of an eye turned 90% degrees looking down from its perspective but to the right from your perspective. The difference is jin has small+silk 小+幺 benath whereas jian has a clump of dirt tu 土 beneath it.
yet another Fine legal question or three
Could Tesla be legally liable to victims of accidents for marketing its vehicles as “self-driving”?
Could Tesla be legally liable to victims of accidents for marketing its vehicles as “assisted driving”?
Could Tesla be legally liable to victims of accidents involving its vehicles where the driver disabled software intended to force the driver to in fact drive the car?
Could Tesla be legally liable to victims of accidents involving its vehicles where the driver ignored software intended to force the driver to in fact drive the car?
https://news.yahoo.com/tesla-driver-falls-asleep-behind-094054587.html
Hanzi in Scorsese’s film “Goodfellas”
I noticed what look to me like a bunch of hanzi in Scorses’s film “Goodfellas”
會 meeting

where he is at.
田 field, where he is going to; or 同 contract, what they agreed to.

且口且册 or 朋
https://youtu.be/galU59i4FjM?t=129
Ancestors discuss it in recorded writings or among friends
典 reports of cases are collected in volumes.
COUNTER-STRIKE, COUNTERATTACK 逆袭 nixi42
COUNTER-STRIKE, COUNTERATTACK 逆袭 ni4xi2
Nixies, girl water sprites, doing handstands and acrobatics for the Emperor in his imperial robe to show the dragon emperor the tactics they will use on the COUNTERSTRIKE they are planning
NiXi is: upside down person on the long road is going BACK TO ATTACK
逆袭 ni4xi2
龙 long2 dragon
衣 yi1 robe, clothing
put together 龙衣y are representing the imperial robe, the Chinese Emperor was also known as the dragon. It’s a compound concept character not pictophonetic so there is no sound clue.
RARA AVIS Mnemonic to Transfer Knowledge to Long Term Memory
Interest: You’re likelier to remember whatever interests you.
Selectivity: Focus on the relevant ignore the irrelevant
Recitation: Read it Out Loud
Vivid Visualization: Close your eyes and imagine seeing it
Association: Link knew facts to known facts
Repetition: Rote learning is boring but effective
RECITATION
ASSOCIATION
REPETITION
ASSOCIATION
ASSOCIATE
VISUAL
INTEREST
SELECTIVELY
把 吧 巴 色 ba
You know how English has him (accusative) and to him (dative)? Chinese doesn’t do that. Nouns don’t decline, there is no case. How does Chinese express the idea of a verb happening TO something and changing the thing so affected? And that’s where ba comes in! It literally means “handle” What happened to the milk? “Me handle cow milk drink completed” is literally what 我把牛奶和了 says. “Me handle book place table on” is literally what 我把书放在桌子上 says. The “completed” 了 particle indicates the action was completed. Of course we translate those sentences properly as “I drank the milk up” “I put the book on the table.” In 我把书放在桌子上 maybe i didn’t use 了 because you or I next plan to pick the book back up: point is 了 here is a colocation. It’s not required but it usually appears to indicate the action resulted in a change of state – “I drank the milk up.” Here “up” functions like le 了 it indicates the completion of the action. Although English doesn’t have particles Russian does. le, ba, ma 了 把 吗 are particles. They mark grammar: state change, accusative case, questions. Notice also this ba has a hand determinant on the left 把. Mouthy ba 吧 is also a particle, it functions to form rhetorical questions and is easily translated with “, ok?” so for example “let’s start, ok?” 让我们开始吧 rang women kai shi ba. The other ba has no determinant and basically means “looking forward to, longing for”. 巴 also nominalizes words. Ba looks a lot like se 色 which means colorful, sex and is, I kid you not, a picture of two people having sex. See? Chinese is really interesting!
memory tricks
Odd numbers are black. Even numbers are white. 0 is grey, neither even nor odd.
In grids: x axis horizontal is numeric, y axis vertical is alphabetic.
Six locations: left front right back above below center self
directions: forward backward
time: past is behind and above. future is ahead, in front, and below
cold is down hot is up
dry dirt is down warm in the ground cold clouds of wet water are up high in the sky
fire is hot and up
Our common concern 多少的词
This is a frequency list of Mandarin Chinese syllables sorted descending without considering tones.
Anyone with a half brain knows what this is used for. Anyone who doesn’t know? Well, get a brain.
人之初 性本善
de | 8722289 |
shi | 7050291 |
yi | 5869055 |
zhi | 3185308 |
ji | 2977951 |
bu | 2943968 |
you | 2746758 |
zhe | 2602857 |
ta | 2376365 |
ren | 2318926 |
li | 2308041 |
zai | 2252027 |
le | 2226721 |
zhong | 2141356 |
wei | 2092014 |
guo | 1841775 |
dao | 1788900 |
qi | 1765121 |
wo | 1749745 |
ge | 1748292 |
di | 1724350 |
yu | 1713834 |
he | 1635213 |
zi | 1589345 |
xiang | 1575940 |
da | 1469164 |
jian | 1451889 |
men | 1391330 |
wu | 1372087 |
1359245 | |
er | 1353892 |
shang | 1292610 |
ke | 1254178 |
ye | 1240777 |
chu | 1221539 |
jing | 1186243 |
hui | 1181130 |
xian | 1167460 |
jiu | 1166024 |
jin | 1163074 |
sheng | 1150523 |
lai | 1118779 |
jie | 1109315 |
fa | 1088739 |
xi | 1082565 |
gong | 1072260 |
fu | 1056555 |
si | 1055744 |
jia | 1051033 |
yuan | 1024450 |
shen | 1006355 |
yao | 988311 |
zheng | 983292 |
zhu | 958453 |
mei | 933373 |
xin | 918778 |
tong | 909188 |
zuo | 893830 |
shuo | 884288 |
qu | 884073 |
fang | 874075 |
dui | 870671 |
xiao | 868443 |
shu | 867809 |
cheng | 857501 |
chang | 849564 |
na | 831925 |
ni | 812061 |
hua | 807991 |
shou | 803601 |
yan | 791181 |
guan | 788407 |
hai | 779180 |
qing | 774492 |
yin | 750738 |
hou | 749405 |
duo | 747728 |
xia | 734342 |
ti | 724525 |
dong | 723244 |
huo | 712024 |
jiao | 703885 |
dan | 700482 |
ying | 698618 |
yang | 698164 |
ming | 696618 |
wen | 695970 |
nian | 695312 |
xie | 686105 |
ju | 685312 |
ba | 679337 |
bei | 670092 |
ru | 669787 |
neng | 665358 |
ci | 657819 |
yong | 652185 |
liang | 639396 |
qian | 638821 |
bao | 620534 |
suo | 604505 |
bian | 597897 |
zhan | 584585 |
dian | 575699 |
hao | 573206 |
xue | 572292 |
xu | 570666 |
fen | 566699 |
dang | 564806 |
ran | 549902 |
wang | 545917 |
dou | 541323 |
bing | 533163 |
ding | 521121 |
jiang | 511050 |
mian | 503878 |
quan | 503025 |
dai | 497044 |
yue | 491401 |
tian | 489761 |
me | 480720 |
gao | 475204 |
hu | 471675 |
kan | 469240 |
jun | 463498 |
fan | 459450 |
ling | 457865 |
wan | 452252 |
she | 433892 |
gu | 432908 |
ban | 429225 |
fei | 427791 |
cai | 427296 |
gan | 426276 |
bi | 421278 |
an | 418511 |
zhen | 418098 |
tai | 412339 |
ben | 411819 |
mu | 408250 |
cong | 405173 |
tou | 400461 |
kai | 398586 |
zui | 392734 |
lian | 389564 |
ma | 388106 |
jue | 384873 |
pi | 376008 |
ri | 363763 |
lu | 362789 |
deng | 356833 |
nan | 356362 |
min | 354208 |
liu | 351731 |
san | 349119 |
bai | 349026 |
zu | 344981 |
tu | 341681 |
zhang | 341340 |
gai | 335105 |
hen | 321875 |
que | 321359 |
biao | 320022 |
su | 318074 |
ting | 314552 |
chi | 312261 |
wai | 300896 |
lao | 299072 |
ze | 293345 |
chan | 291680 |
zhao | 289937 |
feng | 289836 |
ya | 289491 |
chen | 288341 |
qie | 287521 |
shan | 284678 |
ping | 281773 |
luo | 281150 |
chuan | 280973 |
gui | 280303 |
shui | 277968 |
lü | 276875 |
mo | 273029 |
zao | 272008 |
zong | 271651 |
lun | 264565 |
kong | 260769 |
shao | 256246 |
cha | 255265 |
du | 248897 |
duan | 247728 |
qiu | 244599 |
sui | 243720 |
tiao | 242251 |
te | 239091 |
zhou | 239028 |
lei | 238732 |
guang | 238613 |
huan | 232948 |
qiang | 232291 |
nei | 231331 |
mi | 230299 |
gou | 229650 |
bo | 226232 |
tan | 224714 |
zhuang | 220567 |
yun | 219022 |
gei | 217815 |
zhuan | 215756 |
ai | 213586 |
kou | 208960 |
zou | 208069 |
han | 203571 |
geng | 202642 |
qin | 199822 |
gen | 196736 |
xuan | 195599 |
lin | 192140 |
man | 188310 |
bie | 188222 |
nü | 185188 |
huang | 184840 |
pin | 184837 |
la | 183642 |
pai | 177618 |
po | 176842 |
cun | 173519 |
mao | 170048 |
xun | 169768 |
diao | 167083 |
che | 166297 |
lie | 165597 |
rong | 164398 |
chao | 163164 |
kuai | 163050 |
pian | 158598 |
se | 155077 |
tui | 154449 |
kuang | 153891 |
song | 152392 |
hong | 149967 |
tao | 147601 |
sha | 147176 |
chong | 146742 |
a | 143836 |
ceng | 143033 |
lan | 142369 |
can | 141816 |
gang | 140899 |
pu | 138110 |
mai | 137363 |
rang | 136101 |
ku | 132880 |
meng | 132845 |
nong | 131225 |
liao | 130518 |
kao | 130219 |
xiu | 129816 |
ce | 128686 |
chuang | 125052 |
tang | 122309 |
tuo | 121320 |
suan | 121239 |
mou | 116225 |
pei | 114110 |
zhun | 113877 |
zen | 112294 |
ne | 112185 |
e | 109896 |
pan | 108530 |
qiao | 105464 |
xiong | 104841 |
tuan | 104151 |
zeng | 103042 |
peng | 102631 |
pao | 99236 |
huai | 97699 |
pa | 96735 |
hun | 96486 |
cuo | 94761 |
long | 94753 |
nao | 93398 |
kang | 91959 |
ruo | 89865 |
dun | 87900 |
bang | 87257 |
chou | 85191 |
cao | 84874 |
hei | 84324 |
kuo | 81713 |
chun | 79748 |
shuang | 76927 |
reng | 75535 |
qun | 74521 |
lang | 73480 |
re | 72069 |
nai | 69877 |
sun | 69029 |
miao | 68770 |
zha | 68234 |
nu | 67922 |
kuan | 67005 |
mang | 65817 |
fou | 64772 |
ou | 64452 |
piao | 63377 |
tie | 62877 |
leng | 62152 |
shei | 61528 |
lüe | 61411 |
ao | 60455 |
ka | 60440 |
zan | 60431 |
zhui | 59572 |
heng | 58378 |
pang | 57763 |
zang | 55933 |
guai | 55710 |
luan | 55675 |
sai | 55584 |
kun | 53949 |
niu | 52960 |
ha | 52475 |
lou | 52042 |
juan | 51759 |
hang | 51372 |
nin | 51094 |
zhuo | 51036 |
zhai | 50407 |
sa | 48768 |
wa | 48764 |
ken | 47955 |
fo | 47038 |
cu | 46527 |
rou | 45636 |
za | 44146 |
ning | 44017 |
gua | 43244 |
shun | 42354 |
niang | 40907 |
nuo | 40022 |
cui | 39761 |
en | 37898 |
mie | 37465 |
die | 37329 |
zun | 36597 |
zhua | 36094 |
kui | 35822 |
rao | 33503 |
sang | 32783 |
chui | 32523 |
ruan | 30350 |
sen | 29533 |
sou | 29413 |
niao | 29319 |
rui | 28898 |
cang | 28725 |
sao | 27351 |
teng | 27136 |
shuai | 26859 |
bin | 25234 |
qiong | 23167 |
qia | 21271 |
kua | 19956 |
gun | 18003 |
run | 16922 |
pen | 16807 |
ca | 15954 |
tun | 14204 |
shua | 13882 |
nie | 12991 |
beng | 12432 |
diu | 11285 |
ang | 10267 |
zuan | 10064 |
nuan | 9762 |
weng | 8702 |
chai | 7276 |
zei | 7045 |
keng | 6954 |
seng | 6920 |
nang | 6709 |
eng | 6707 |
cou | 5544 |
pie | 5059 |
ga | 5050 |
cuan | 5002 |
o | 4582 |
miu | 4290 |
shai | 4290 |
chuo | 4140 |
jiong | 4019 |
pou | 3767 |
nen | 3707 |
yo | 3635 |
shuan | 3605 |
nüe | 2979 |
chuai | 1829 |
zhuai | 1396 |
cen | 1069 |
天地玄黃,宇宙洪荒。
天地玄黃,宇宙洪荒。
tian1 di4 xuan2 huang2, yu3 zhou4 hong2 huang1
heaven earth mysterious-black gold
flood, out of practice, uncultivated, desolate
Heaven and earth are mysterious black and gold.
The universe, flooded, desolate.
colocations with yao shi zhi you
如果 if ruguo
要是 if yaoshi
只有 only zhiyou
只要 as long as
Memory Techniques
Visualise vividly
See it
Add Emotion
What makes something memorable
WMMW
WMES
Involve all senses
Acronyms
Acrostics
Poems
Songs
Relate back to known
ONE GUN A Red point
TWO SHOE B Orange a line segment
THREE FLEA C Yellow triangle
FOUR DOOR D Green square
FIVE HIVE E Blue pentagon
SIX BRICKS STICKS F Indigo hexagon
SEVEN HEAVEN G Violet seven pointed star
EIGHT GATE H Black octagon islamic 8 pointed star
NINE WINE I White 3×3 tictac toe board
TEN HEN J Grey a line segment with two pentagons at the start and end
ELEVEN BROWN
Story Method
Person Action Object
Loci Palace
LINKWORDS COGNATES
HSIAO XIAO small
how SMALL is an otter? acronym
里 力 立 利 李 吏 厉 历 理 离 丽 例 礼
一 十 木 米 茶 本 未 末 来 林 森
A
BE
CAT
DOGS
EARTH
FAKERS
GODDESS
HOLINESS HEAVENLY
INTELLECT
JEALOUSIES
KLEPTOCRACY
LITHOGRAPHER
MEMORIZATIONS MENTALIZATION
NEUROTECHNIQUE
OPHTHALOMOGICAL
PARADIGMATICALLY PALEOGEOGRAPHIES
QUADRIARTICULATED QUANTUMMECHANICAL
RECONSTRUCTIONISMS
lol
Camera Obscura
Does invention follow fiction?
Science faction?
In the future the fact that gravity space and time are in fact the same phenomenon will be not only an established fact but also understood sufficiently that they will launch time probes into the past. These probes will move around time as much as they do through it, basically functioning like a remote viewing telescope broadcasting past images (us) into the future where they have receivers. After the future determines how to look into the past it then moves on to determine how to communicate with the past. What starts as mere observation portals, and possibly invisble ones, become communication devices. Then, the future works on not only observing then communicating into the past but also on temporal distortion: speeding up or slowing down the flow of time in localized areas.
Get obtain, possess, dirt. 得的地 得
Get obtain, must 得de/dei
Possess 的, de=’s di=aim 目的=mudi, intention
dirt. 地 de=-ly di=land 地方 =difang place
Someone walking down a road beneath the sun at dawn pinches what ?
dirt that’s what Dirty di, difang de di
地.
They obtained 得 dirt 地
and now it is the dirt OF 的
someone on their spoon beside the bright white sun. 的
Ew.
止此紫些
红色的
橙色的
黄色的
绿色的
蓝色的
紫色的
棕色的
黑色的
白色的
粉红色的
青
朱
赤色的
灰色
允 充 弃
允yun3 permit it’s a picture of mom nursing a baby. she PERMITS it.
充chong1 fulfill the child is happy because it has FULLY fed.
弃qi4 abandon it’s a picture of a kid being held up in a basket and abandoned.
FBI
The first people to insult the police are also generally the first people to call the police for help. They hate the police, until they need them.
People who think they have all the rights, that the rules don’t apply to them, and that they can treat others like trash, use them and throw them away are about to find out: they can’t. The rules apply to you. You cannot abuse people.
Policing is a very difficult job physically and psychologically.
Even in a tyrannical regime, a police state, the police are people.
Mom, Monster, Mermaid: Free Book For Friday
On Friday and Saturday I am giving away a kids book I wrote called “Mom, Monster, Mermaid“.
Feel free to provide an honest accurate book review.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C5ZK144/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i19
赤亦变弃允
亦变赤弃允
These characters all look a bit similar and some of them are even conceptually related. By learning them as a group they are easier to recall.
亦 Yi4: Also, Too
Also, Too: It’s a pictogram of a person carrying something under his arms He is ALSO carrying something else.
https://hanziyuan.net/#%E4%BA%A6
变 Bian4: Betray, Change, Rebel, Renounce
Change, Rebel, Renounce, Betray
变 https://hanziyuan.net/#%E5%8F%98
is a combined composite character. On top is a persons Also carrying something; beneath is a hand. The idea is that the person is going back on their oath; this idea grew into the idea of change generally. To change, alter, but also to renounce, betray.
赤 Chi4: Scarlet, Red, Bare, Naked
Scarlet, Red, Bare, Naked
It’s a picture of a naked person on top (this portion deformed/simplified to its present form) above a fire, he is naked and heating himself. The fire’s flames are red so is the naked person’s heating body.
弃 Qi4 Abandon
It’s an infant in a basket, above two hands. Is that baby for sale? It is now! It means to abandon: baby in a basket, abandoned.
https://hanziyuan.net/#%E5%BC%83
允 Yun3 Allow, Permit
It’s a combined concept character of a mother above nursing an infant below; she is PERMITTING and ALLOWING it.
车到山前必有路,船到桥头自然直
车到山前必有路,船到桥头自然直
Before the cart reaches the mountain there must be a road,
a boat which reaches a bridge proceeds naturally.
Ready Player One
LOGICAL CONNECTORS IN CHINESE
These are some of the logical connectors in Chinese.
只有。。。就
只有。。。才
既是。。。也
尽管。。。但是
无论。。。都
既然。。。就
与其。。。不如
除非。。。否则
除了。。。都
不管。。。都
不是。。。就是
只有。。。就 if only … then (if)
只有。。。才ONLY IF … then (if, and only if)
既是。。。也 even if … there is still
尽管。。。但是 despite
无论。。。都 no matter what … all
既然。。。就 although … still
与其。。。不如 instead of … why not
除非。。。否则 only if/if not/unless … otherwise
除了。。。都 except for … all
不管。。。都 although … all
不是。。。就是 either … or
合 谷 容 浴
Though they look alike they appear to have no phonetic relationship and are likely associative compound characters (hui yi zi)
合 he2 to close join fit
谷 gu3 grain, valley
容 rong4 hold contain countenance
浴 yu4 bathe
盒 he2 box case
舍she2 residence
盒
Elon Musk
“Pedo guy” – Elon Musk
I’m going to hide from the U.S prosecutors!
I’m going to hide from the U.S prosecutors! In the USA! They will never think to look there!
How can any person be that stupid? Ok, granted, we’re talking about a pedophile pimp… even for that class of low life New Hampshire is a really stupid place to try to hide.
Well, stupid is as stupid does. How many blackflips will she do? Hint: she’s stupid. As many as the FBI wants! And if she doesn’t the prosecution will rip her throat out on cross examination.
Self Explanatory Chinese Characters (Indicative Characters) 指事字
To my surprise, there does not seem to be a comprehensive list of indicative characters on the internet. Indicative characters are more often called self explanatory characters in English but in Chinese are called indicative characters (指事字). We may also rightly call them ideograms. Indicative characters are abstract symbols, sometimes derived from pictograms, to express an abstract concept graphically. So for example an arrow, a dot. Most numbers are indicative characters because they are an abstract concept. Some of the indicative characters are inversions of other characters. They are self evident. The dots tend to be used to call attention to a particular aspect of a pictogram. Like pictograms, ideograms generally do not have a phonetic clue as to their pronunciation, though some do. Some ideograms are quite abstract others are referenced to pictograms. They are symbols, abstract expressions of an idea graphically represented.
一 one
七 seven
三 three
上 up
下 down
世 world (three generations of ten years each)
中 middle
之 possessive particle
乏 deficiency
九 9
二 2
于 at
五 five
亦 also
八 8
公 public
凶 pit trap disaster
刁diao knife in the mouth as symbol of the idea of wicked
xi a fledgling bird’s wing as a symbol of revision
刃ren4 edge of a blade
勺shao spoon dot is the depression for the food
十10
千 1000
升 rise
叉 fork. dot is the food on it
只 only dots of speech from the mouth
员 employee
四 4
夏 summer (hundreds of people walking about)
太 too much (too big too heavy)
孔 kong
寸 cun inch
小 xiao small 3 dots of sand grains as symbol of small
尤 excellent outstanding; a lame man with an accentuated particularity (he was wounded in war)
尺 one foot long
屯 village, troop outpost; originally a sprout.
左left (work tool in left hand)
幻 huan fantasy
廷ting2 palace courtyard
旦 dan dawn
曰 yue tongue
末 mo tip (of a tree)
本 ben root (tree root)
朱 zhu red bark cambium of a tree, spiral rings of a tree; scarlet, ring.
氐di foundation (the roof of a clan is its foundation)
爻 trigram markings,
牟mou moo
牵qian to pull an animal on a tether, to lead along, to hold hands
犮right (two right hands of two people shaking hands, two hands clasping each other)
甘 gan sweet (sweet food on the tongue)
示 shi vision alter as a symbol of the idea of a divine vision of the divine; two+small=divine visions
臣chen government minister (ju giant is a component of it; ministers are big and powerful people)
逆 ni contrary opposite backwards. inverted da big as symbol of retreat, backwards, going back.
凹 ao concave
凸 tu convex
习 xi wing of a fledgeling bird as symbol of the idea of revision, review, study
少 few xiao+negation stroke? not small, but few.夕 xi evening star venus or moon as symbol of evening
士 shi master
灭mie disaster
This list is definitely not complete.
The shou wen jiezi claims there are only about 150 indicative characters.
Ghislaine Maxwell didn’t kill herself
When you literally whore out children you shouldn’t be surprised when it catches up to you.
When do Countries War? USA, China, Russia
States sometimes go to war with former allies and sometimes make alliances with former enemies. Are there conditions which make wars between states less likely? Are there conditions which make alliances among states more likely?
When we think of war we are using an abstract concept to simplify our world as a kind of a lemma; of course, “the state” doesn’t reallye exist, but people do. What things make groups of people likelier to trust and trade? What things make groups of people likelier to fear, distrust, or even hate?
Abstractions of identity help to explain when groups are likelier to conflict or get along. Common points make conflicts less likely, and differences make conflict likelier. So the question of war in a sense is also the question of identity, of self as opposed to other.
What criteria do people use to identify themselves? Well, we are all human, so in principle we all could get along. Yet, even though we are all human some have different skin colors, others have different religious views, others have different languages, others still have different ideologies, different systems of government.
So, countries (abstractions from individuals) with common religions, languages, skin colors, and ideologies are likelier to get along as opposed to countries split by race, religion, language, and ideology.
Viewed in this light the USA and China may be doomed to conflict. Their ideologies and religions are quite different, so are their languages; and even race is to a larger extent than not different. All they really have in common is the desire to grow rich: they are culturally driven to acquire and enjoy property and to view property ownership as all important.
Viewed this way too the USA and Russia are likelier to get along than to conflict. Their religions are similar though not entirely the same; their racial composition is likewise similar, but not the same. Their contemporary ideologies are more similar than different. In short, the four splits, race, religion, ideology, and language are much less severe between the USA and Russia as compared to the USA and China or Russia and China. The Chinese-Russian relationship is thus more fragile, and the U.S. Russian conflicts are more illusory. It is likelier that the USA will be able to bring Russia into an anti-Chinese coalition than for China to bring Russia into an anti-USA coalition.
合作 hezuo = collaborate
合作 hezuo collaborate
合 is a picture of a mouth on top with a dot of food or a word, and a mouth below. it is the idea of close/to close//mutual. Once you understand the underlying pictograph or ideograph’s logic the characters are much easier to remember.合 thus can mean “and” “with” “co”. It, like so many Chinese words doesn’t correspond exactly to one single English word. 作 is a person on the left and on the right is cloth which is spread out as a display or for sale. this zuo means to make or to do. There is another zuo which ALSO means to make or do and in the same tone to boot. Polysemicity is unfortunately a big part of Chinese so get used to sound alikes. So: “to do”+”together”=collaborate.
我们的公司会跟你们合作 our business will work with you.
c.f. he tong, contract.
Tangled Twisted and Tied Up in Knots (The STRUGGLE is real!)
纠结(jiū jié)STRUGGLE
Jiu1 means tied, twisted. On the left is the silk determinant since it’s usually ropes and on the right is stylized image of
丩 jiu1
two ropes twisted together. It occurs these days as a character component.
On the right is
结jie2
jie2 which means KNOT. But 结 jie2 is a polyphonic character and in the first tone means produce, solid, bear fruit.
Put together jiu1jie2 means STRUGGLE. We STRUGGLE to break the bonds of ropes tied together which bind us.
Ah the Strug Gull! My favorite Bird!
Circular Reasoning
Chinese has lots of words which could be translated as round, circle. None of them correspond exactly to the English word “circle”. But each in context is unambiguous. Here are some of them. Context words are italicized, these express the core of the Chinese word.
圈 round as in a roll, whether a rolled pearl curtain, a rolled mat, a rolled tortilla, a rolled up fist. quan1
轮 a round (measure word; just like English “a round of golf” e.g.) lun2
圆 round, circle, sphere yuan2
圜 round, circle, around, ring huan2
周 circle, circumference zhou1
围 encircle, surround, around wei2
绕 entwine, coil around, around, round rao4
团 round, as in lump, as in ball; regiment tuan2
巡 patrol, round as in the police made their rounds xun2
Advanced Vocabulary Terms
坚持 solid+support=PERSIST JIANCHI
节奏 festival+music=RHYTHM JIEZOU
原则 source+standard/norm=PRINCIPLE YUANZE
违背 disobey/violate+burdened back = WEIBEI VIOLATE
独处 solitary+reside/place = LIVE ALONE DUCHU
念头 recall+head = IDEA INTENTION NIANTOU
属于 category+there/at = TO BE CLASSIFIED AS shuyu
沉默 submerge+silence=taciturn CHENMO
功课 merit+course=homework GONGKE
眺望 gaze into distance + hope = SURVEY tiaowang
凝视 congea+vision = GAZE AT ningshi
替代 replace+represent=SUBSTITUTE tidai
Pro Testing is all the RAGE these days
罢 ba4 stop
Net on top (wang2)
big foot on the bottom walking out of the city below (qu4 – it is a deformed character due to simplification; memory trick? the si on the bottom is an arrow pointing his way out! not really: it’s deformed, but hopefully more memorable that way).
It’s an associative idea character. Two ideas brought together to express a third.
罢手 ba shou – ba to stop, shou, hands; it means to stop as in quit as in surrender as in hands up!
罟 gu trap, implicate
Literally a net for trapping birds or fish; figuratively catch in the criminal drag net.
Net on top (semantic)
Gu character below (phonetic) = 10 mouths.
A pictophonetic character.
10 mouths caught in a net: TRAP, IMPLICATE
Hope you like my blahg :/ cough cough
Rage, btw, is French for madness as in rabies.
“The night of the long knives” (Devil’s Diplomatic Dictionary Free Supplement)
When they came for Aunt Jemima – I wasn’t fake maple syrup, so I said nothing.
When they came for Uncle Ben – I wasn’t brown rice, so I said nothing.
When they came for me – I wasn’t Elizabeth Warren, so no one came for me.”
First, the land o lakes indian princess. this has long been the brunt of bad jokes and since the farmers coop don’t seem to be founded by or funding ndn issues i’m ok with it, though it was nice to see something other than genocide.
Then Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, the Cream of Wheat mascot is next on the chopping block.
Cui bono?
LA CHOY WAS UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT!
懂了嗎?
東東!
“Right Side PAC”
FAKE NEWS CYCLE
Much of what passes for “news” and “reporting” these days is really just marketing fakery to push a given “narrative” “story”.
Specifically:
1) Generate a pseudo conflict e.g. by making an outrageous counterintuitive claim, preferably one which is unverifiable or at least difficult to verify. Many people are lazy and will never bother to do their basic research. (paradox, contradiction).
2) Use that false conflict to polarize readers, preferably viewers, into two or more hostile camps. Split people into hostile groups and stoke up their mutual rage at each other. Viewers are preferable to readers since they are less likely to think critically or analytically and are also less likely to try to verify claims, or even to know how to do so.
3) Spin off as many conflict stories as possible from the generated conflict into poutrage lamentation shock and horror. The “story” now has “legs”! It must be true!
4) Use search engine optimization and fake bot accounts on social media to push aspects of the story.
5) Use one polarized segment (your audience) to destroy another polarized segment (your viewers). Ideally use two disposable factions since you might miscalculate but their mutual destruction would nonetheless serve your hidden agenda.
Season with hidden agenda and conspiracy, whether political OR economic (who cares about the truth I just want to sell product / manipulate the stock price).
Must 须 XU1 需 Need
必须
bi4xu1 must+must/beard (male as symbol of commanding obligation)
需要
xu1yao1 Need+Want, Require+Desire = NEED
Winter snow NEEDS to be swept away by a man with a beard.
Women WANT bags and bottles of products.
Need and Must are both xu1 but have a different character.
Book Review: Pictogram Palace
YOU Can read Chinese! This book breaks down Chinese characters into their pictographic, phonetic, and semantic elements. Presented as digital flash cards for easy memorization! Free preview lets you see for yourself! Over 2000 different Chinese characters provides the building blocks for basic Chinese literacy. Learn to read a new language! Impress your colleagues, friends, and family! Learn the language spoken by over a billion people and the worlds fastest rising economic and political power. The worlds oldest writing system, the world’s first civilization, and the world’s most popular language are unlocked for YOU in this simple entertaining book which is keyed as character sequences following the Shuangfa Method for Chinese literacy pioneered in Bai Shuangfa’s (白双发) “Hanzi Gong”. 汉字宫.
Learn more at: http://amazon.com/author/quizmaster
Thank you for reading , I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Will you please consider writing a review? Even just a few words would help others decide if the book is right for them. It’s easy: just click this link and you’ll travel to the Amazon review page for this book where you can make your review. Best regards and thank you in advance! http://www.Amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/write-a-review.html?asin=B07PG5G8DN
Varia 禁 楚
禁止的
at the altar before the grove the priest made clear that which was PROHIBITED
挺清楚的
that which was prohibited was made quite clear by the clear green blue burning brazier at the altar before those who would walk past the grove.
任
住主注
往
选手 Memotechnique
选手 xuanshou33 choose+hand=Athlete
The ATHLETES, as CONTESTANTS had a first–Hand view of the race. Choose the best
秀才认字认半边
秀才认字认半边 xiu cai ren zi ren banbian
开卷有益.
历史 li4shi3 history
史 HISTORY is a central LIne in her hand SHI3
吏 the HISTORIAN has a chopstick in her hair: One LIne on one’s head
使 an ENVOY is an historian in the EMPLOY of the government SHI3
These look similar too but do not appear to be etymologically related to
更 geng1 geng4 https://hanziyuan.net/#便 replace, change (the guard); more
便 bian4 pian4 https://hanziyuan.net/#更 ordinary, plain, convenient; cheap, inexpensive
須 xiu
須 xiu
H.irsute
I.t’s
U.nderstood MUSTACHE MUST BEARD OBLIGATION
It’s a pictogram.
3 lines of hair on the left
2 dots for the mustache on the bottom
eyeball in the middle on the right
line on top on right is a hair tie chopstick.
The man with the flowing BEARD tells you what you MUST do.
必须 bixu
Must, to have to, to be obligated.
德 de Virtue, Germany
德
De2 VIRTUE.
Path on the left, light of the eye it’s focal direction on top of the all-seeing eye in the middle. line underneath is the path, implying choice, heart underneath shows it is moral choice.
the light of the all seeing eye is on the path of VIRTUE it is guided by the heart.
Approaching Chinese through homophones YU2 于 余 与
Chinese is replete with homophones. Some seem to be cognitively related. Let’s have a look at the phoneme yu2, usually in second tone.
于 余 与 all three are yu2 and are high frequency connecting characters! AT, EXCESS, RECEPTION
与 AND 宇 yu3 universe (image: a child underneath the sky-dome!.
与 PARTICIPATE 欲 yu4 DESIRE
于
AT, In, From. Can also function as a question particle like ma at the end of a sentence, that usage however seems literary to me as opposed to colloquial.
余
Extra Surplus Excess, Left over goods. Image is a house under construction with surplus material scattered about. AT this House is EXTRA construction material.
与 yu2 yu3 yu4
PARTICIPATE yu4
AND yu3
This one is the idea of mutuality, especially the mutual relation of reception by the younger generation from the donation of the elder generation.
欲 yu4
Desire.
宇 yu3
Universe.
雨 yu3
Rain
疑 yi2 uncertain, doubt, suspect, disbelieve.
疑 yi2
Uncertain, doubt, to suspect, to disbelieve.
Originally this was the image of a man with a walking stick as a representation of the idea of inquiry as to the proper way.
Later a road was placed to his right to make the idea clearer.
Still later, a foot symbol was added beneath that man to make the basic idea really clear.
An ox also appears in some images again to express the idea of not knowing the way: the man is guiding the ox and neither know the way.
This was then stylized and simplified to its present form.
It’s meaning extended over time to include extensions of the basic idea of uncertainty, lack of knowledge, to include disbelief, doubt, suspicion.
However, it’s core meaning is: uncertainty, implying inquiry.
This is one example where CEDict, which in many respects is very good, doesn’t reflect the Chinese language with perfect accuracy, which is tough since Chinese meanings often carry allusions and extensions not found in Western counterparts.
Uncertain, doubt, to suspect, to disbelieve.
On the left is a stylized and standardized image of a man. The top left is his open mouth asking the way bi3 匕. Yes, that character means spoon, knife, but here it is reused visually. Beneath him is shi3 矢 arrow which represents his body, his hand, and walking stick. Arrows of course represent direction, intention, awareness, focus so this stylization makes sense pictographically (his body) phonetically (sound clue as to pronunciation) and semantically (arrow as symbol of the man on his way, intent on his destination).
On the right is a representation of these ideas: the path he is on, the ox he is guiding, The top right is an inverted arrow: this figure is often used to represent the head, a circle, it’s usually pictographic. Here it is a remnant of the ox which the man is guiding, the ox also does not know the way.
Beneath is the foot figure zhi it represents the idea of his walking, that he is on a road and is also a pictographic remnant / standardization of the ox which was on his right. https://hanziyuan.net/#疑
止 zhi3 stop https://hanziyuan.net/#止
路 lu4 road https://hanziyuan.net/#路
正zheng1 upright https://hanziyuan.net/#正
疋 pi3, ya3 https://hanziyuan.net/#%E7%96%8B
https://hanziyuan.net/#
Pangu (Chinese Pan-Atlas)
不知千年万年万年千年 I don’t know, thousands or tens of thousands of years?
终于终于醒过来醒过来 Finally finally awoke!
醒来是如此艰难 Awakening is like this, very hard.
擦一擦眼睛把世界看明白 wipe your eyes, look at the world, understand
清浊分明 混沌化开 distinguish clear from murky, chaos transforms and opens
清浊分明 混沌化开 distinguish clear from murky, chaos transforms and opens
呼…………
从此有了阴晴暑寒 following this was shadow clarity heat and cold
从此有了兴替盛衰 following this was rise and fall, flourish and decline
从此有了日升月落 following this was sunrise and moon set
从此有了未来现在 following this was the future – now
从此就是天圆地方 following this then the round heaven, the square earth
从此就是五湖四海 following this then the five lakes, the four oceans
从此就是春华秋实 following this then spring flowers, autumn harvest
从此就是世世代代 following this then ages and generations
喔…………
经历千载万载万载千载 experience a thousand loads ten thousand loads
一天一天站起来站起来 on one day – one day arose, stood up
一旦从梦中觉醒 following one dawn awoke in the middle of a dream
挺一挺腰杆把世界撑起来 standing straight, bearing a pole on the back, placing the world upright
生活起航 历史剪彩 life set sail! history’s ribbon was cut!
生活起航 历史剪彩 life set sail! history’s ribbon was cut!
呼…………
从此有了阴晴暑寒 following this was shadow clarity heat and cold
从此有了兴替盛衰 following this was rise and fall, flourish and decline
从此有了日升月落 following this was sunrise and moon set
从此有了未来现在 following this was the future – now
从此就是天圆地方 following this then the round heaven, the square earth
从此就是五湖四海 following this then the five lakes, the four oceans
从此就是春华秋实 following this then spring flowers, autumn harvest
从此就是世世代代 following this then ages and generations
喔…………
https://music.163.com/#/song?id=300363&autoplay=true&market=baiduhd
He split the sky and sundered the land
standing tall between heaven and earth
Pangu created the universe
https://music.163.com/#/song?id=300363&autoplay=true&market=baiduhd
machine translation of poetry lol “Climbing Stork Tower”.
白日依山尽 bai ri yi shan jin
黄河入海流 huang he ru hai liu
欲穷千里目 yu qiong qian li mu
更上一层楼 geng shang yi ceng luo
Day after day
The Yellow River flows into the sea
Desperate
Take it to the next level
Google… this is classical Chinese poetry. Not rap music.
Here’s my translation.
“The bright sun to the mountain goes
the yellow river to the ocean flows
the poor desire to see a thousand miles more
then climb up to a higher floor”
Maybe baidu does it better? Surprisingly it doesn’t do much better (usually fanyi.baidu.com does a better job than google translating Chinese).
Day by day
The flow of the Yellow River into the sea
in order to see far away
Take it to the next level
Maybe yandex??
Day by day
Yellow River into the sea
For a thousand miles
To the next level.
*sigh*.
颂 song4 song
颂 song4 song
Song4 is a cognate. It means song in the poetic sense, ode, elegy, eulogy. Song in English also means poem but is rarely so used.
Gong1 public, duke, male on the left (phonetic) 公
Bei clam cowrie cash shell on the right 贝
(songs are performed in public for cash and are treasured)
公 + 贝= 颂
螢 ying2 firefly
螢 ying2 firefly
火 火 huo3 fire
冖 mi4 cover
虫 chong2 invertebrate, creepy crawly flittiing flying
two fires on top, mi4 cover in the middle chong2 bug on the bottom fires represent
fire fire cover bug = firefly a pair of sparks in the dark a jar within to light the night firefly’s a real delight ying
Yes
It’s
Now
Glowing. FIREFLY
How to memorize characters 看拆写比记 kan1 chai1 xie1 bi1 ji4
To memorize Chinese characters: look at them, then break them down into their componenents, then try to write them, then compare what you wrote with the character then remember all that.
Every character is a composite of sound and image to express an idea. It’s often to remember the meaning of the character than the sound since the characters are generally not phonetic. Likewise, it’s entirely possible to know a the meaning of a sound without knowing the character. Eventually however your knowledge of SOUND and IMAGE will line up! Especially if you know what the characters really mean using pictogram palace (free preview).
看拆写比记 kan1 chai1 xie3 bi3 ji4
看 look at
拆 break down
写 write
比 compare
记 record, note, remember.
爰 yuan2 THUS 煖 nuan3 WARM
爰 yuan2
Pictograph of two hands pulling a thread as a symbol of the idea TO FOLLOW, THEREFORE, SEQUENCE, CONSEQUENTLY. Claws on top, hand on the lower right. Hand in the middle is a standardization, it used to be the thread, it’s a reuse of a character to depict something other than it’s main meaning.
暖 nuan3
The sun is on the left, Consequently it is WARM
煖 nuan3
A fire is on the left, Consequently it is WARM. This is a variant version of nuan3 暖 WARM.
THUS U?TE VASE WARM THUSTHREADISWARM
秋 qiu1 愁 chou2
秋 qiu1
In the FALL we Burn 火 huo3 the Stalks of harvested grain 禾 he2; bonfires clear and fertilize the fields.
愁 chou2
In the Fall you WORRY 愁 chou2 ABOUT the coming winter.
各 EACH person has their FOOT 足 on the ROAD 路Ge Zu LU
各 ge4 足 zu4 路 lu4
各 EACH person has their FOOT 足 on the ROAD 路
做 versus 作 — a curious couple of characters!
做 zuo4
做 zuo4 is a VERY common character; it means to make, to do. Apparently it was coined recently since it does NOT appear in the liu shu tong, jia gu wen, or any other ancient sources. Possibly it was coined to distinguish it from 作 zuo4 which ALSO means to make or do! Decomposing these characters may help.
This zuo4 做 should be understood as a hui yi zi, an associative compound character, person ren on the left and gu intentional on the right 故 gu4. 故 is a hand with a hammer on the left INTENTIONALLY hitting an old person to kill them and end their suffering. I promised you truth, not ponies.
ren+gu have no phonetic clue for zuo4 and so this 做 zuo4 must be an associative compound character and not a pictophonetic character. So this zuo4 做 means that which people intend to attain, and is make or do in exactly that sense.
Unlike 做, this zuo4, namely 作 is found in the oracle bone script.
https://hanziyuan.net/#做 INTENTIONAL OBTENTION, INTENTIONAL ACTION. ZUO4
乍 zha4
stitched spread out cloth as a symbol of work SPREAD, STAND ON END, BRISTLING by extension AT FIRST, ABRUPTLY as a cloth which breaks
Later determinanents were added to distinguish meaning from metaphor. https://hanziyuan.net/#乍
作 zuo4
WORKS, TO WORK, WRITE, COMPOSE
work is that which is done by people thus the ren, person, on the left is added to show not the product itself but the production thereof. https://hanziyuan.net/#作
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/作
作 zuo4 PRODUCTIVE WORKS, TO WORK
I hate to send you to look elsewhere but as a non-native speaker I must. Regarding the usage of the two zuo4 both of which mean MAKE, DO Angela Fang says…
http://blog.tutorming.com/mandarin-chinese-learning-tips/how-to-use-zuo-in-chinese-grammar
争秉
秉 bing3
争 zheng1
zheng looks a lot like bing but its meaning is somewhat different.
bing3 means to grasp hold maintain hanziyuan.net/#秉
zheng1 means to contend fight contest hanziyuan.net/#争
both have a hand grasping in the middle coming from the right hand side. but bing3 just has he2 a grain stalk which that hand is grasping whereas zheng1 now features a second person ren2 abbreviated on top (it’s either dao1 knife or ren2 person, it’s abbreviated and polysemic, keyword daozitou). Originally that second person/knife was a hand and the two were contending for a slab of meat.
夬 缶 缺 It is CERTAIN that URNS are sometimes DEFICIENT…
缶 fou3
Pottery, jar, urn; it’s a mortar and pestle (or any other earthenware vessel), seen from the side. The mortar is on the bottom the pestle is on the top.
夬 guai4
Certain, decisive. Originally a foot on top a hand below indicating the idea of certainty through experience. Transformed to a large powerful men (da ren, fu ren) the foot now also represents his ring of authority on which he might bear his jade royal seal.
缺 que1
Deficiency lack absence; most often seen in 缺点 shortcoming default flaw.
This must be a hui yi zi, that is an associative compound character since it’s clearly not a pictogram or a pictophonetic character
EXPERIENCE shows URNS are sometimes DEFICIENT, LACKING.
落 (each, river luo, fall; drop.)
各 ge2 each
https://hanziyuan.net/#各
Mouth calls out. Foot then comes. EACH person comes when called.
stompmouth – foot on top of mouth: EACH is repressed!
EACH person has a foot and a mouth.
Don’t put your foot in your mouth.
洛 luo4
the river luo
https://hanziyuan.net/#洛
each person comes to the river luo.
落 luo4 fall, drop; la4 lag leave behind
fall, drop
hanziyuan.net/#落
fall like leaves drop like drips
夅 jiang4 descend
降 jiang4 fall
夂夊 zhǐ foot and foot-right-kua 㐄
Time for some game theory!
博弈论 bo2yi4 lun4
博弈 boy2yi4 games (of a competitive nature) gamble+ancient name for wei qi.
论lun4 theory (talking around the wheel)
囚徒困境 qiu2 tu2 kun4 jing4
prisoner+disciple=prisoner (qiu2tu2 tudi de tu)
kun4jing4 predicament (kun4 tired difficulty jing4 border place territory boundary)
kun4jing4 does not appear to indicate the idea of lemma.
旗 Flag (Qi2)
旗 qi2 flag
This character is the image of a flag. Originally the flag was on the left; the character was simplified and standardized to its present form. The person in stocks (cangue) on the left originally was the guard tower holding the flag. The sideways/abbreviated ren2 person character on the top right was originally the flag, and appeared on the left on top of what is now the slave in stocks (cangue). The bottom right character originally was the kit and equipment of the color guard.
Today it may be most easily remembered as a square flag on the left with it’s penannt on the top right and the standard bearers kit and equipment on the lower right. Alternatively, you may like to think of the man in stocks on the left as the guard, the flag as a tool (qi2) on the lower right and the image of the penant on the top right.
In any case, tool on the lower left is also a phonetic clue: it says qi2 just like this character. A flag is a tool of state power, which includes the power to imprison exile guard and defend.
It is a pictophonetic character. Note that phonetic elements generally also are pictorial and/or semantic.
Free supplement to “Devil’s Diplomatic Dictionary” Mole; Poetic License to Ill
An infiltrator spy or other disloyal person. A disloyal spy, sent from the infernal world, to root out spies. Example sentences:
“A cat bumps into a dead mole.” 瞎猫碰到耗子
No!
Must we hunt them ruthlessly and remorselessly like barrow wights seeking to feast on our flesh?
敝 bi4 broken beaten battered
敝
hand hammer + torn tatters = bi4
hand hammer busted tattered BI4.
it’s the idea of busted up clothing, shabby, broken people by extension.
poor ruined shabby broken defeated
病 bing4 sick QI LAI.
病 bing4
bing4 means sick. It’s a picture of one’s ribs as a symbol of interior, inside and it is on a sickbed. the bed is sideways, the feet of the bed are on the left and the head of the bed is on top. See? Easy!
Sideways Sickbed + Inside? 病字偏旁! 就起来!Bingzi pianpang! Jiu qi lai!
条件 , 情况: tiao2jian4 versus qing2kuang4
Tiaojian条件, qingkuang情况: tiaojian is a condition, like as in the clause of a contract. but qingkuang is a more general condition, situation, state. They are not exact synonyms but they are similar.
条件
条件 tiaojian CONDITION (a strip 条 + a piece (of cowhide) 件).
Tiao: this is a STRIP it is a Foot on top of a Tree. The foot stands on a strip of the tree’s branches.
Jian: is a Person next to a Cow. Guess who is gonna get turned into a PIECE of Leather?
情况
情况 qingkuang circumstance
qing is Heart + Clear Colored Green-Blue = FEELING 情qing
Ice+Big Brother=SITUATION. 况kuang
It’s freezing cold out my big brother has a heart set on clarity. These is the SITUATION in which we find ourselves. 情况qingkuang
Kim Yo Jong & Martin Shkreli: separated at birth.
Both are supervillians. Obviously they are related: just look at those smirks!
静夜思 Still Night Thoughts jing4 ye4 si1
床前明月光 quan2 qian2 ming2 yue4 guang1
疑是地上霜 yi2 shi4 di4 shang3 shuang1
举头望明月 ju3 tou2 wang4 ming2 yue4
低头思故乡 di1 tou2 si1 gu4 xiang1
bright moon light before bed
doubtful is frost on land
lifting my head, hopeful bright moon
bowing my head, thinking of home
完全他妈的恐慌屠杀和扯蛋
完全他妈的恐慌屠杀和扯蛋
持 chi2 C.lasp H.old I.t
持 = 手 + 土 + 寸
chi2 is a hand on the left (手shou3) a clump of earth on the top right (土tu3) and a pinching thumb on the bottom right (寸cun4) d C.H.I u a r n n tu3 4 d C.lasp H.old I.t GRASP HOLD SUPPORT GRASP IT HARD AND SUPPORT
“On the Beach”: A memoir
千山鸟飞绝 the flight of a thousand birds cut short
万径人踪灭 the tracks and traces of ten thousand extinguished
孤舟蓑笠翁 an old man alone in a boat in a wet raincoat
独钓寒江雪 fishes in the frozen Yangtze river
all smiles kids
日 ri SUN 旦 dan DAWN 正 zheng UPRIGHT 是 shi IS
You are 是 standing upright 正 under the SHIning sun 日 at dawn 旦 and it’s a really hot day. This then is SHI是 and it means: to be. Shi’s character is a symbol: it’s a picture of the sun at dawn on top of a picture of a foot. Chinese characters are highly stylized standardized and simplified pictures. The idea of this shi is a person standing upright underneath the dawning sun. Chinese verbs don’t conjugate. That means i SHI you SHI we SHI – it’s always shi! Chinese has the simplest grammar. Verbs don’t have to agree in number or gender because Chinese doesn’t have gender or plurals really or conjugations. Let’s be egoists. Wo is Chinese for I. You can remember it with the word ego, which sounds similar I guess if you slur the g softly like – aygho – wo. Chinese wo also rhymes with Spanish yo, which also means I. So “Wo Shi”. I am! You are: ni shi. We are women shi. Can you guess what adding -men to wo does? Yes, it makes the plural, but Chinese plural only exists for people, not things. So nimen is you plural. Ta means he, but since Chinese has no gender it also means she. Can you guess what tamen means? Yep! It means them. And just like that you learned all the conjugations of to be in Chinese whether in the past present or future! Singuler: Wo shi. Ni shi. Ta shi. Plural: Women shi. Nimen shi. Tamen shi. You also learned four characters:
日 ri SUN
旦 dan DAWN
正 zheng UPRIGHT
是 shi IS
春眠不觉晓 chun mian bu jue shao
春眠不觉晓 chun mian bu jue shao
处处闻啼鸟 chu chu wen ti niao
夜来风雨声 ye lai feng yu sheng
花落知多少 hua luo zhi duo shao
dormant in spring, not asleep at dawn
hear and there the calling cry of birds
evening arrives with wind rains sound
how much do falling flowers know?
Side Hustle: Similar looking pianpang
廴 yin3
long road. Sometimes reported as long legged strider, which does’t seem to be the case; this is also not a picture of a stylized and simplified hand overtaking a person. It is variant of
彳 chi4
road, walk to emphasize the road is VERY long.
辵 chuo4 ⻍, ⻎ or ⻌
walk abbreviated form: 辶 (may have one or two dots on top, may have a curve in the middle left depending on font). These four all seem to be expressing the same idea. It’s a road, and/or a person walking along it. Yin just happens to be a much longer road.
None of the above are t to be confused with
及 ji2
which is a hand on the right grabbing a person on the left, as a symbol of:
to overtake, exceed, catch up to. No road here, just a chase and a catch. Nor to be confused with
乃 nai3
thus, then, hence: mother’s breast as symbol of consequence. No road here either.
常尝 look alike. sound the same. similar meanings! 我常常尝试.
常尝 chang2
常 this chang2 means often, repeatedly.
尝 this chang2 means taste try attempt.
they both have “esteemed” shang4 尚 (still, yet, to hold in high esteem; we Still go Toward that we Esteem 向xiang4) on top as the phonetic clue. The semantic key is the other part, for chang2 often we see a hanging curtain, which is often opened and often closed, i.e. a doorway’s curtain. 常
The other chang2 which means taste try attempt has a cloud underneath it; the cloud symbolizes the idea of changeability and possibility, possibly better weather, possibly worse weather, possibly shade, possibly sun. The great hall of heaven has a billowing white cloud underneath it may be a nice way to remember chang2 taste try attempt.尝
我常常尝试