Does anyone have an alternative ideas for this element "spool"? This one just doesn't work for me, and the kanji which include this are the ones I forget most often. I've seen the idea of soiled crotch / dirty underwear, and that is certainly more "visual", but I've not had much luck making stories that stick with that either. Anyone have any other ideas that they have used for this?

Hi! I don't like "spool" for 圣 either. It seems that Heisig studied 経 first and chose the keyword "spool" without looking how useful would it be for learning other kanji.

Unfortunately, I didn't find a single keyword for that combination that I liked. I've been resorted to consider it as two separate keywords. crotch and ground

In my stories, the combination has gotten the senses:
- Levitation (the lower part of your body isn't touching the ground)
- Half-buried (the lower part of your body in the ground)
- Serenity ("having your feet in the ground" is a spanish expression meaning grounding)
- sit cross-legged in the ground.
- supreme embarrassment ("Tierra, tragame!" is a spanish expression in which you beg the planet to swallow you so that you don't have to confront shame)

As an example, my story for "stalk" (stem) uses the sense "half-buried", while "sutra" uses "levitation" (the story features a flying carpet).

I've done the same thing as DrJones, and used them as separate elements.

[Katsuo]

Suggestion: Call it "toilet paper" (or "toilet roll").

Reason: You can associate it both with the elements and with Heisig's name.
1) Toilet paper is used to clean the soil off your crotch.
2) Toilet paper/roll usually comes on a spool.

Stories:
1) 715, stalk 茎: just get a flower and wrap some toilet paper around its stalk.
2) 716, suspicious 怪: Sigmund Freud (= state of mind) has a mystery patient who has wrapped himself entirely in toilet paper. Freud is very suspicious that it's someone he knows (who wants to remain anonymous).
3) 717, lightly 軽: You are fussy about your car and to clean it you will only dab it very lightly with toilet paper.
4) 882, diameter 径: Measure the diameter of a column (maybe Nelson's Column in London?) using a roll of toilet paper.
5) 1360, sutra 経: Spiderman (= thread) has a roll of toilet paper with the words of a sutra printed on each sheet (picture Spiderman saying the sutra as he tears sheets off the toilet roll).

I think I have seen in somebody use "veneral disease" or VD for 圣. The image and the mnemonics V for crotch and D for dirt are easy to remember. It would be useful for example in 716 suspicious 怪.

Katsuo Wrote:Suggestion: Call it "toilet paper" (or "toilet roll").

That is brilliant

I'm kind of into reworking stories if my original ones aren't particularly strong and if I hear about something better...this is better!

synewave Wrote:

Katsuo Wrote:Suggestion: Call it "toilet paper" (or "toilet roll").

That is brilliant

I second that.
Also wanted to say thanks to Katsuo for all the gems I have seen you post on this forum. Keep it up!

Katsuo Wrote:Suggestion: Call it "toilet paper" (or "toilet roll").

Nice, but then you can't use it for the teepee primitive...

Katsuo Wrote:Suggestion: Call it "toilet paper" (or "toilet roll").

Thanks Katsuo, that's a really interesting idea. I like the way it wraps everything up (no pun intended) and it's nicely visual as well.

Thanks to everyone else too. Some good ideas there!

I realize this is an old thread, but I wanted to say thanks a bunch for this... I was having exactly the same problem with "spool" (just doesn't lend itself to memorable stories!) and I was somewhat relieved to find others having the same problem. These suggestions will help a lot. (I especially like the toilet paper one. That's great.)

I use Fernando Torres.

You know, there's a few times where I went back and changed primitive images even well past having learned Kanji using them:

人 I changed from Marine Sentry to Batman
手 I changed from generic finger to ET
糸 I changed from generic thread to Spiderman

There's probably more, but now there's one more. Thanks Katsuo, and thanks Tourne for making the thread. This primitive has given me problems to boot.