Just to get some ideas of alternative primitives you used. I'm looking for ideas since the going is ridiculously tough around 675 due to the lack of things you can do with "fingers" and also not getting that confused with hand, 2 hands or fist.

so far alternative ones I used are

心 = Richard the Lionheart
忙 (heart on the left) = Jack the Ripper
研 (right part "two hands") = Medusa

regrets: not giving the following alternative meanings

turkey
fingers

http://kanji.koohii.com/study/index.php?search=exit

I used an alternative primitive meaning for exit.

出 (Primitive) - Apparatus

I'm also considering going with an alternate primitive meaning for Punish, too. (http://kanji.koohii.com/study/index.php?search=punish)

刑 (Primitive) - The Punisher

I haven't really gotten far enough to see if this is useful, but I'm going to try your alternate meanings for the different Heart primitives because I can't remember any of the "state of mind" kanji for the life of me. It's going to take some work trying to forget what I've already learned, but if my current rate of memorization of those characters is concerned, then I shouldn't have much trouble!

This is a great thread, by the way.

Right now I am wondering what to use for 696 'or again' 又, i think some kind of superhero or supervillain

Heisig suggests crotch; I used the comedian Hard Gay.

For "finger" stories, I threw in a lot of "severed fingers". Same thing with "head". I used 固 = medusa because my "harden" story used a medusa. Anytime "eye" appears horizontally, I made a cyclops story.

One random ass substitution I used was for the "going" primitive (at the left of 行、復、従, 御, etc). I changed it to "going to fight the end boss in some RPG video game". So all of those kanji stories are in 8- or 16-bit graphics in my head, which for some reason makes them some of my strongest.

For the primiatve in 道、込、近い I use the country singer, Willie Nelson. (Because he had that famous song "On the road again" of course.)
It works just fine, and virtually every time I get a keyword with him in it, the song "On the road again" pops up right away in my head.

My favorites:
for fingers: Colonel Sanders/KFC restaurant/KFC chicken.
for taskmaster: hitler

Good ones but not favorites:
for person: Mr. T
for going: the superhero flash
I also use my favorite old school wrestler The Undertaker for 止.

My favorite primitive that isn`t a person is definitely the image of a large trojan horse for 馬

Mr.T for person. (I watched the A team when I was little.)
Fingers the Thief for "fingers"-- makes it more interesting.
For "pinnacle," I use The Pinnacle, an Evil Gated Golf Community. Made stories fun.

For state of mind, I use a "heart shaped locket". Now, later Heisig introduces Locket, so for that one I use "naganaka", a well-known Japanese weapon for those that play RPG's. I liked using Frodo for the "Rice Seedling" primitive.

Actually, I have lots of variants. It'd take time to think through them all.

laner36 Wrote:My favorites:
for fingers: Colonel Sanders/KFC restaurant/KFC chicken.

Hah, I love this one. I've made so many good stories with it.

I settled on Captain Hook from peter pan (his hook clashes with peter pans sword) for 又 and when it has wind above it, Captain Hook's Ship.

Wizard Wrote:I settled on Captain Hook from peter pan (his hook clashes with peter pans sword) for 又 and when it has wind above it, Captain Hook's Ship.

I use butt for 又. So naturally when wind is above it I use "butt missle". Which was slang I used as a kid for a fart. It has resulted in many comical stories.
For example-for drown I imagine being stuck in a closet with only my brother and a bucket of water. He farts and I choose to drown.
EDIT: 没 #707

Like probably tons of other people on here - I've made many of my own primitives, and they definitely helped. I've also used multiple alternate for the same physical primitive (fingers = generally Fingers the Thief, every now and again Shrek, and two or three times Col. Sanders).

That said, though, I have to say that Fingers the Thief is quite possibly the most useful mnemonic I've ever used in my studies through the 2042. Whoever came up with that one, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I used a ton, but my favorites were:

Fur trapper for 皮

Pee for the flag primitive (A big P, c'mon now!)

Kim Kardashian for Maestro (B for butt, haha)

Love Doll for 者 is a classic, and Mr. T is legendary, of course.

for what Heisig is calling butcher, I've been using Yakuza... I hope this doesn't come back to bite me.

I think you're safe, cerulean. Heisig doesn't use any yakuza stuff that I can think of.

I used Sharpie for 言. So much easier.

Fascinating! I am thinking of using this fingers the thief dude for fingers, although i dont know if he is a real character or not.

I really like that story about drowning yourself in the closet! For me it was people drowning in the water after captain hooks ship detroyed theirs.


For Angry I had captain hook giving a woman a right hook to the face, heheheheh.... go go cheesy puns.

I like my jack the ripper stories the most because they are hideously violent. (Jack the ripper went to a fancy dress party dressed as captain hook, complete with suspicious real-looking blood on the hook. The guest he got it from is now under 10 feet of soil yet no-one is suspicious.)

Trying to work out something for 反 now

[Katsuo]

Here's a few I've found useful...


Renamed:

言, say --> keitai (portable phone); it's pictographic, and you say things into a phone.
見, see --> telescope or magnifying glass; i.e. something that helps you see.
力, power --> Arnold Schwarzenegger ("Arnie" for short).
束, bundle --> Charlie Chaplin; because tramps carry a bundle.
糸, thread --> Spiderman; because spiders make threads.
艹, flower --> my local flower shop; because locations are versatile e.g. you can put anything in them.
木, tree --> my local woodyard; same reasoning as for flower.
王, king --> King Henry VIII.
氵, water (three drop version only) --> splashing water, or shooting with a water pistol.
忄, state of mind --> Sigmund Freud.
扌, fingers --> fingers the thief who specialises in nimble finger tasks like safecracking and pickpocketing.
罒, eye (horizontal version only) --> net; this is used in Japanese, and in RTK3. It's pictographic.
反, anti --> a demonstration march (they are anti-something).
彳, column --> Nelson's column in London.
禾, wheat --> a packet of Weetabix (a breakfast cereal popular in the UK).
文, plaid --> a kilt (made of plaid)


Some combinations:

葉蝶喋諜牒 generation + tree = Tarzan: because Tarzan lives with several generations of his family at the top of a tree.
通踊痛桶 chop-seal + utilize = pogo stick: because a chop-seal is long and thin with a rubbery bit at the end. If it were big enough you could utilize it as a pogo stick.
燥操繰藻 goods + tree = furniture: a common type of wooden goods.
曜濯躍擢燿耀 feathers + turkey = futon: a futon made from turkey feathers.
珍診疹謬 umbrella + shape = parasol: because a parasol is umbrella-shaped.

Awesome, there's some great stuff in that post I can use!

[ファブリス]

Katsuo Wrote:my local flower shop; because locations are versatile e.g. you can put anything in them

Wow, what a great idea Katsuo!

We talked a lot about using characters for primitives but we haven't really developed this idea of using locations.

I'm understanding your example as a setting for a story where the remaining primitives can be involved. This is different from using many well known monuments like Eifel Tower or the Big Ben as primitives, because these are often used the same way as objects or character primitives (though the line between object and location is often blurry...).

番 = potplant (looks like one)

right side of 僚 = slobbering dog

曲 = guitar (looks like one, plus you *bend* the strings to make a *melody*, thus covering both its meanings)

曹 = busker

left side of 陸 = bra/bikini top

right side of 陸 is a bit rude (hint: it appears in kanji like intimate and heat)

十+罒 = be careful (from a Greek expression, "let your eyes be ten" to mean "be very careful")

Where possible, I use the conventional meanings of components so I don't confuse myself because I already knew the meanings of a lot of primitives before I started RTK. E.g., I prefer 十 = ten rather than needle, 扌 = hand rather than fingers, 又 = again rather than crotch.

[Katsuo]

ファブリス Wrote:I'm understanding your example as a setting for a story where the remaining primitives can be involved.

Yes, that's it. The other primitives could be objects in the shop, or people such as customers, temporary employees, etc. Here's some examples:

228. leaf, 葉: You see Tarzan (= generation + tree -> see my post above) in the flower shop. He is trying on various leaves (which he wears to cover his private parts).
1216. turf, 芝: Zorro is working in the flower shop. His job is to slice up the turf for the customers. (You buy some from him.)
2369. buckwheat noodles, 蕎: A buck-toothed angel is working in the flower shop. Her job is selling buckwheat noodles. (note: this flower shop can sell almost anything if it fits the kanji!)
2394. mushroom,茸: You've been working in the flower shop for so long that mushrooms start growing out of your ears.
2957. bo tree,菩: The flower shop have put a muzzle on Bo Derek and are selling her as a bo tree.

In Heisig alone there are over a hundred kanji with "flower" and even more with "tree", so this technique is useful as it expands the story-making possibilities.

Does anyone have a simple yet interesting alternative to what Heisig calls 'Thanksgiving'?

I sort of dislike the thought of US farmland or colonial anything.. I always found this stuff so bland and boring..


EDIT: This whole Lesson is rather uninteresting.. Parades.. March, Fiesta.. Thanksgiving.. Ugh.. I don't care for any of these. :p

cerulean Wrote:Does anyone have a simple yet interesting alternative to what Heisig calls 'Thanksgiving'?

I sort of dislike the thought of US farmland or colonial anything.. I always found this stuff so bland and boring..


EDIT: This whole Lesson is rather uninteresting.. Parades.. March, Fiesta.. Thanksgiving.. Ugh.. I don't care for any of these. :p

I feel you. Parade: Godfather part 2 parade, Fiesta: Spear (This is amazing, it works really good. Spear + hand is a ton easier now), Thanksgiving: Indians eating corn on the cob!