L18 Flashcards
衣
2 >> 衤
3>> without top hat
4>> Factory style top and left side.
5>> Top and bottom sandwich another character
CLOTHING // underneath a top hat, all you’ve got is a skirt. This is the latest fashion crazy, billowing skirts with hooks and dops adorning them
2>> cloak, an elongated fashion skirt worn on the back
3>> Scarf. If you haven’t got a hat on your head, you need something to keep warm. May as well wear it as a turban.
4>> Bandana
5>> Top hat & Scarf
裁
TAILOR // all year, the tailor sits around twiddling his hard-skinned thumbs. Then, every year, at thanksgiving, pilgrims pour in asking for suits and shirts and clothing of all kinds. So at thanksgiving, the tailor never closes shop.
装
ATTIRE // those most robust of turtle soldies require clothing that will adequately equip them for battle. “Attire”, hear them demand it at morning parade. “Atttttttiiiirrreee”.
哀
GREIF // a much-loved family uncle, egbert, has contracted alzheimers. Here, he sits at the christmas dinner table, eating and forgetting he’d eaten already. He’s forgotten that he’s wearing a top hat and scarf, and looks a fool. Although he’s still alive, the family greive for the loss of their egbert.
袁
YUAN // as in the president and general of China, Yuan Shikai, this is a popular surname. We have to imagine an outspoken politician, but one who wanted to retain his powers of enigmacy. Even time Yuan Shikai spoke, he did so with a scarf wrapped around his face. And, bizzarely, he slept in a giant lidded crock so that nobody could reach him until he pulled back the lid.
初
ELEMENTARY // this is probably the simplest of all character cases to crack. What ever could Cloak + Dagger mean. “It’s elementary, my dear watson”.
补
PATCH // patching a cloak requires you to find the patch, prepare the area, pre-stitch, patch, then stich. And it still might fall off. But hang on a minute, thought the wizard… why on earth am I doing this when I could patch the cloak instantly with my wand?
礿
INNER GARMENTS // for skiiers, there’s nothing more important than thermal undergarments. throughout the day, as the skiiers sweat, the undergarments stick like glue to the insides of their clothes.
农
AGRICULTURE // crown and scarf. At the harvest festival fair, Tilly the milk maid won the prize for best lass. They adorned her with a crown and placed her on a pedastal. Now they’ve gone, forgetting her, and she can’t get down. All she’s got is a scarf to endure the cold night on the farm.
浓
CONCENTRATED // It’s the year 2043. To reduce the cost of agriculture even further, all the water is now squeezed out of vegetables in the field. Consumers take the concentrated pack of carrots and add a bit of water.
巾
TOWEL // A stick thin fashion model has gone on a new diet- the shower and towel diet. All day every day she showers under hot and cold streams, then flings a towel over herself. See the product of her labours here, a stick girl with a towel on her shoulders.
帅
COMMANDER // far from the actual battle field, while everyone else is experiencing the horrors of war, the commander strides over to the sabre on his wall, and cleans it down with a down-ey towel.
师
TEACHER // Unlike the commander’s sabre, which is ornamental, the teacher’s serves a practical purpose. Concealed by a towel, it hangs on the ceiling above the students, and they can release it at any moment should the students step out of line.
狮
LION // In his day, the lion used to be the fear of the land. Now, more of a gramps, he’s spending his time teaching a pack of dogs how to be scary. They hang off his every word, gathered in a circle around him and bringing him the best cuts of meat. It ain’t bad being a lion.
布
CLOTH // The hotel was so enormous that the maids all carried giant rolls of fluffy cloth by their sides. When ever necessary, they would cut out a new towel.
帜
STREAMER // this steamer is really rather bizzare. It’s for the swimming party of an animal fanatic. The whole streamer is made of a towel, and it’s got on it a mouth at one end and a pair of legs at the other. They’ve got loads, and are throwing the towelly animally streamers everywhere.
帽
HAT // “You know”, said the gentleman “normally when I use a microwave to heat my pastie, I minimise the risk of radiation attack by wearing a special ‘microwave protection hat’. But today, I’ve only got my scarf, so that’s why I’m wearing it around my head.”
幕
CURTAIN // This graveyard has substituted gates at its entrance for a giant curtain made of towels. But these towels are a particular type of haunting towel, they are the towels of the deceased’s hotel stolen plunder.When you’re next stealing a hotel towel, just think, one day it’ll be curtains for you too.
帛
WHITE TOWEL // literally just read this off, white towel
棉
COTTON // so cotton usually grows on bushes, right? Well this here’s a cotton tree. So scale everything up, and rather than cotton in little balls, you’ve got it in enormous, billowing white towels. They’re so big and heavy, the cotton just falls right off.
市
MARKET // market traders usually let nothing get past them. They’re always the boss, always in charge. But when a lady turned up in nothing but a top hat and a towel, all their bartering banter went out the window. She was a canny buyer, if a little cold by the end of the market day.
肺
LUNGS // CDs, knick nacks, mothy clothes, lungs. Lungs?! Is that really what’s on sale. Yes, that’s right, it’s a set of lungs taking pride of place on the ‘flesh’ market stall.
>> 冖 on top of 巾
>> APRON // a towel, adorned at the edges with tiny little crowns, is the absolute price and joy of the house cook. Doesn’t she look professional with that on?
带
SASH // this one’s part pictograph, part ‘apron’. So the pictograph looks like the sash you tie round an apron. Except, to beef it up, imagine that top line being a WWE/F style belt, awarded for awesome washing up.
滞
STAGNANT // When water stops moving it becomes stagnant. When people are sashed (tied to something, like a mother) they too become stagnant. Imagine an exciteable salmon, sashed to its mother in the stagnant water.
冂
BELT // clearly linked to towel, this is actually a belt from above. it’s trying to stretch all the way around the champion sumo wrestler, but it just isn’t happening!
[nb. To distinguish from towel itself, this one is always hung off an existing vertical stroke, never standalone.]
朿
THORN // thorns usually wrap themselves round trees, but the trees are usually fine. This thorn species, however, has turned itself into a belt by inventing itself an incremental buckle. The belt of thorns are slowly choking the life out of the tree.
制
SYSTEM // The seasoned butcher has established an ingenious method for taking his cows to the slaughter blade. Instead of taking the blade to the cow, he ties a belt around its middle, hoists the cow up, then lowers it onto his blade.
雨
RAIN // One of the clearest examples of a complex pictograph, this one is sky, a couple of clouds, and the rain droplets. It’s like something a primary school child might draw.
>> same
>> Rain // Weather - sometimes condensed at the top, the droplets turning into small horizontal lines
雷
THUNDER // The most exhillerating of weather phenomenons is best enjoyed in the most open of spaces. Stand in the middle of a corn field, raise your head to the skies and bellow “DO YOUR WORST, MOTHER NATURE!!!”
霜
FROST // A morning frost only occurs when all the elements of weather work together to. They have to work with one another, pulling together moisture, timing and temperature to create a frost.
云
CLOUD // this is a diagram, like in a geography text book. Think of a kettle boling bottom right, it gets picked up by a wind current, then sails upwards to create nimbostratus, then eventually cumulonimbus. A geography lesson in a character!
运
CARRY // As the sweet chariot passes by overhead toward happiness, you plead “swing low sweet chariot”. The passengers look down at you, struggling along a long, desolate road, and swoop down their cloud carriage to “carry you home”.
>> 冰
[only left hand part, radical]
ICE // water is three dots. In ice, two of them have joined together. The freezing process has begun.
况
SITUATION // the situation in today’s high schools is abismal. Teenagers are running wild. The situation can only be resolved by cryogenic freezing - we shall release them from the ice when the siutation has improved.
冲
COLLIDE // collisions make us think of nuclear particles, normally stable apart from each other. What would happen if the particles at CERN did collide in the middle? We’d be plunged into a nuclear winter, ice and everything. All because they met in the middle.
减
REDUCE // The weather man has said there’s a great risk of ice tomorrow morning. You need to reduce that risk and reduce the ice, so you need to put out something salty. Because you think things should be done properly, you order in a pizza with extra salty anchovies, chop it up and chuck it out. The reduction in ice will be worth the effort.
凉
COOL // Up in capitol building, summer hits hard on the podge-buckets. They’re sweltering, so they decide to allocate some of the national budget to cover the building in ice. That’s sure to cool them down before the buffet.
冬
WINTER // Walking legs slipping on ice. Worst of all, this person’s slipped just above a stalecmite, and it’s point right up his crotch. Owwhhh I hate winter.
天
HEAVENS // A pictograph of the great man himself. Why is his head so large? Because “god is a DJ, heaven is a dancefloor”, and he’s whirling his dreds.
吴
WU // Chiefly a popular family name, this is also the sound of the dickens-esque Master Wu, a dapper gentleman, wu wooing his woman with a portion of Tiramisu, a desert he discovered on a recent travels. Tiramisu’s nickname is “heaven in the mouth”… mmm, Master Wuuuu.
娱
AMUSEMENT // mr Wu’s gone. Now it’s just the woman he took on a date. But having tasted it once, the woman knows what an addictive amusement ‘heaven in your mouth’ is. She’s even gone to a Tiramisu-themed amusement park to satisfy her craving. (It’s in naples!)
误
ERROR // Beautiful words, such as “silky”, “delicous”, “irresistable” all describe ‘heaven in your mouth’ tiramisu. But after eating a whole tray of it, your belly will know that these words were deceptions, and the tiramisu binge was an error.
夭
DIE YOUNG // Ever wondered why St Bernard dogs are so named? Well, yonks ago, they used to be just Bernard dogs. Then all of them, on a group trip, were wiped out be a collosal avalanche. Being innocent, they were made saints and given halos (see the slanty drop on their head? halo). This was to make up for the fact that they died young.
乔
PRETEND // A student sprained her ankle in netball, but pretends it is way worse than it is. OWWHH she says, limping around on crutches and playing herself as a tiny tim, soon to die young. But soon the teachers exposed her as a false pretender.
angel // our young pretender says that when she dies she’ll become angel. (But she doesn’t reliase that if she did, for all eternity she’d be on crutches.)
桥
BRIDGE // The simplest of bridges, hollowed out from one enormous redwood, is made glorious by a wood craftsman who carves an elaborate angel into the sides.
娇
ATTRACTIVE // Angels are buff women. We tend to forget the fact that Gabriel was a man. No no, we think, lets let the women dress up in wings and sparkles.
立
STANDING UP // the general posture of anything standing up, or upright, is represented here as a pictograph of an upward vase. Somthing that maybe isn’t always standing upright.
vase // or anything standing up that is usually lying down
泣
WEEP // much more than a little cry, when one weeps, one may as well be standing in a vase full of water, for all the water that’s been created. Though plants probably wouldn’t much like all that salty water.
站
STATION // every day you get the train to work, every day the station fortune lady sits there reading fortunes off an enormous ming vase. What’s she going to say to people, “today you will take the train to work, then take the train back” It’s a joke.
章
CHAPTER // in chapter one, reads the botany book, we shall learn how to grow sunflowers, in chapter two we shall place the sunflowers in vases, and in chapter three we shall learn how to grow vases. This is a self-sufficient character in three chapters.
竞
COMPETE // Not all teenagers are drug-addict wasters. This lovely lad has just been competing in the Chelsea flower show, and is holding his winning vase above his head. Good on ya, teenage vase man.
帝
SOVEREIGN // standing up and apron, overlapping with the middle stroke. The sovereign ruler, standing up in front of his loyal army of citizens, has forgotten that just a few minutes earlier, his mummy was getting him to to wash the dishes. So here he is, our sovereign supreme, standing on the podium wearing an apron.
童
JUVENILE // A juvenile is getting a taste of juvenile jail, just for a day. Why? Because he got frustrated with computers, and stood all over them. He stood on five computers until they were crushed.
商
SALESMAN // the peddler sells anything he’s got using any means he’s got. So here, he’s got horse legs and mouth (a tasty stew) and is standing on the top of his motorcycle helmet, scouring the crowd for potential buyers. You can’t fault his imagination.
>> 啇
>> ANTIQUE // a vase, kept under a glass hood because it is ancient. As you write it, take care not to damage the vase (because the vase comes first, and is followed by its protective glass hood). Phew, all safe in the antique display.
滴
DRIP // think of the thomas crown affair. Everyone thought the painting was a priceless antique. But as the drips of water cover it, drip drip drip, the truth is unveiled.
匕
SPOON // it looks like a spoon, but it’s for a greedy person because it has two receptacles. Hehey. It’s not the same as ‘7’ because we write the first stroke right to left.
someone sitting on the ground // perhaps after eating a meal with a double spoon!
北
NORTH // the northern winds are so strong that, without caution, people could easily blow away. This couple are sitting back to back to prevent them being swept away from the evil north winds.
背
BACK // the part of the body you turn to sheild your important front organs from the cold wind issss…. your back! turn your back on the north and head down to the warm.
比
COMPARE // the two spoons, slightly different shapes, represent a casserole each. One is cooked by your mother, one by your mother in law. You’re mean to be comparing, but what on earth are you supposed to say!?
昆
DESCENDANTS // “there is nothing new under the sun” goes the proverb. Comparisons were inevitable when a carving was found on a stone of a man playing x-box. It seems that as old as the sun, our descendants have been comparable to us.
混
MIX // cultures that mix and match in marriage are argued by some to be ‘watering down’ our ‘descendants’. What a disgusting suggestion. We should surely be free to mix as we please. ‘Watering down descendants’, what twoddle.
皆
ALL // comparing whites. Nobody ever ever does that, except for TV adverts. “My brand has made these whites whiter than white!!”, “It’s got ALL the stains out”, they’re “ALL clean!!”. It’s, ALL Soap Powder.
此
THIS (LITERARY) // In a great literary work, the first line is “This is the story as it was first told to me…”. But since it’s great, the opening ‘T’ is all ornate. You can see how it’s been constructed from a load of spoons. (The story, of course, is goldilocks the spoon licker.) This is it…
些
SOMEWHAT // by chapter two, the same story begins “This is how the story continued”. But in Chapter II the calligrapher is more tired, and his spoon T is only somewhat ornate, slightly less than before.
它
IT // in the children’s game, there’s usually a safehouse, a ‘homey’. This is homey, with a mummys boy sitting on the ground under it throughout the game.
旨
PURPOSE // in the trenches, after a month, the troops lost all sense of purpose. All they knew was dirt, horror, blood and gore. They lost all purpose. Then a magical being brought them each a spoonful of sunshine, and purpose was reminded to each of them.
脂
GREASE // a university department in nebraska has been established to prove that bodies were actually designed to be overweight. What is the purpose of flesh if not to stuff it full of grease? That’s their purpose, to prove it.
>> 仑
>> LIFEGUARD // on hove seafront, a lazy lifeguard sits on the pebbles under an enormous golf umbrella. He wishes he’d stayed in Malaysia…
论
THEORY // a scientist created a theory - just on paper - to allow him to breathe underwater. After the lifeguard hauled him out, he showed the plans, and still couldn’t believe that the theory was disproved by his near death.
轮
WHEEL // wheels only work as well as their tyres. The lifeguard started to get suspicions when everyone in the pool turned up with giant rubber rings… they’d all taken them off the wheels in the car park!
>> top bit of:
每
RECLINING // the first stroke is the head, the second the body. This person’s been told to take it easy for the day, just chill.
每
EVERY // “Behind every person LIES a woman.” In fact, she reclines, barking orders. In faaact, this is your mother, who’s never left you alone, and lives in your house eating grapes on the sofa.
梅
SMALL PLUM // behind every pie shop, there’s a tree full of small plums. For some reason, every other ingredient can be ordered from Bookers, but plums can only be freshly picked off a tree. Honestly, check, every single pie shop has one.
海
SEA // behind every sea, as vague and vast as they might seem, is a galaxy of individual droplets of water.
乞
BEG // the worst form of begging is represented here. A man lies face down accross the pavement, hooking people’s trouser legs. They won’t escape before paying the begging toll.
吃
EAT // “Eat to live, not live to eat”. Here we see the better end of the scale. Not those fat cats scoffing food, but those who use their mouths wisely to beg for the food they need to eat.
复
DUPLICATE // reclining, full day, walking. The photocopier machine has been running up and down, back and forth under the glass, all day. Here it is, reclining after a full day of duplicating useless drivel.
double back // to return in the direction one came. duplicating an already arduous journey in reverse.
腹
ABDOMEN // flesh needn’t been toned up using expensive equipment. Just do the stretch, double back on yourself and do it again. Duplicating actions makes tough abs.
欠
LACK // cryptic pictograph. Somone yawning because they lack sleep and rest. First stroke is head, second arm covering mouth, third weak legs splayed.
yawn //
lack //
吹
BLOW // make your mouth lack all the air inside it.
歌
SONG // can can girls performing a sweet song on the stage, but the audience are yawning. It’s not a song they want!! They want to see some thigh.
软
SOFT // Yawning while driving is a potentially fatal occurance. The most dangerous cars are ones that are soft. In 2006, duvets, quilted drivers seats and feather headrests were banned from cars to stop drivers yawning.
次
NEXT // “Next in line” hollered the ice lolly seller, but poor little Timmy could only just hear him, as, on this hottest of hot days, he stood almost 300yards from the lolly truck. Ice… I so badly lack ice.
second // much closer in the line!
资
ASSETS // the first shells you accumulate go out of the bank immediately - rent, interest, bills, groceries - but the rest stay there as assets.
姿
LOOKS // a woman is always herself inside, but with her outer looks she can become a second person. Will she look like a punk, a prude or a puritan? It’s her second self.
咨
CONSULT WITH // A second mouth is necessary when making an important decision. This decision is about whether to plant rice or bamboo on the hills, and two farmers are shouting accross the valley to each other. “Hang on”, says one, “I’ll quickly consult with the mouth to the east”
