靠谱 kao4pu3 reliable depend+chart= COUNT ON someone/something RELIABLE
top part of 靠 is 告 top of 告 is 牛 bottom is 口．
When you 告TELL，ADMONISH someone dumb as an ox 非 NOT to do something
谱 pu = Chart, list, table, registry. Determining whether someone is reliable or not is to WARN them and then CHART the result to determine if they are RELYABLE.
关键 guan1jian4 critical moment; turning point
关 Mountain pass; Concerning; Connected; to Close; to Switch. A mountain pass is a strategic choke-point where the enemy may be stopped by a small number of able defenders.
键 metal+path+hand+stirring stick = KEY
Thus guanjian=KEY POINT
守住 shou3zhu5 defend, to hold a defensive position
守 Shouwenjiezi says something like “Following roof, the maintenance and defence of governmental institutions in the broadest senses. Following thumb, wrist, inch, measure comes also the idea of the law.”
THE DEFENCE OF THE LAW, LAWFUL DEFENSE.
住 Zhu4 To possess and dwell. Person on the left, concentrated attention, illumination on the right. It is the idea of POSESSION as RESIDENCE resulting from the concentration of one’s efforts and the presence of the person. CEDict: live, dwell, reside,
倒 dao3;dao4 Collapse, Fall, Topple; Invert (lit.), contrariwise (metaphoric).
Man on the left 人, sword on the right 刀, an arrow hitting the ground in the center 至． The ancient idea is that when a person人 arrives至 at their home they store their weapons, which is why the arrow in the middle is upside down and also why the character means INVERTED, TIPPED OVER. 到 without person just means arrive.
怪 a weird wonder. It’s the idea of strange, but also the idea of wonder; we marvel at that which is strange and outlandish. It carries the idea of moral fault in some uses such as 怪他们 = It is their fault.
他 Person+Snake=Him ; Snake as symbol of alterity, the object of fear or distrust.
我 手hand+戈halbred=me.
At a critical point
someone unreliable
holding a cipher key
did not defend it
and the fault for the loss of that key was theirs.