Does anyone have a good idea of what alternate meaning I can give the "every" kanji? It has grown little beady eyes and is looking at me as if to say "you can't make any stories with ME, I'm an abstract keyword... mwahahahahahaha"...

maybe something like Ally as all...seems like a dog name

"Every" is not that abstract a concept - there are a lot worse in RtK!!

That said, i do still use my story when writing it (*Every* guy wants to *recline* with your *momma*)

Screw a story for 毎. It's one of those kanji you see every day if you expose yourself to Japanese, so it's quite alright to rote memorize it.

Tobberoth Wrote:Screw a story for 毎. It's one of those kanji you see every day if you expose yourself to Japanese, so it's quite alright to rote memorize it.

True enough. I was trying to remember what my mnemonic for this used to be, and I have absolutely no idea.

For the primitive, I used Freud, from the top stories posted on the site.

ihatobu Wrote:Freud believed every man wants to lie down with his mother (see decameron)-- AND he asked every one of his patients to recline on the sofa and talk about his Mom.

I agree with Tobberoth. You won't need any help to remember this one. I totally forgot what story I used but when I checked it was the Freud one from decamer0n.

I have had very good results using "Michael Palin" for this primitive.
He performed a skit called "EVERY sperm is sacred" in one of the Monty Python films. The story falls into place.

Video clip is here:

My story was something like 'behind every mother is a lazy son reclining down all the time'
or some crap, I must have acquired it by rote in the end anyway.

There are much harder abstract kanji which aren't used as consistently as 毎 is. Take 然 vs 毎 for example. 然 is 100 times more difficult as far as usage and different utterances in meanings (afaik most of the uses of 然 are omitted and written in kana only?)

So go with rote like everyone has said so far.

Tobberoth Wrote:Screw a story for 毎. It's one of those kanji you see every day if you expose yourself to Japanese, so it's quite alright to rote memorize it.

I agree. Actually there are quite a few kanji that I haven't even bothered to make a story for because I learnt them before starting RtK. Mainly JLPT 3 & 4 level kanji.

Yeah It's used A LOT, but if it helps...

Every Mother got "laid" down on, at some point...

I hate this one because I often mix it up with "each" in my stories...pain in the ass sometimes....

Remembering every -> 毎 is easy enough, as some have pointed out. The difficulty is remembering where the "every" primitive appears in other kanji (for example, TaylorSan mentions mixing it up with "each"). It's quite possible to assign additional primitive meanings by rote too, but I think it helps when they have some kind of connection to the components or the original keyword, i.e. a story... For example, the story that gives us primitive meaning of Freud -> {every} or {lie down + mother}.

It's wrong but:

"Freud thought EVERY son wanted to LIE DOWN with his MOTHER"

One ticket to Hull please.

On the flip side, this is a kind of common kanji (毎日、毎朝、毎晩、毎週、など) so once you start learning it in words you'll find you won't need to remember the RtK meaning.

For many of the simple early kanji, I have rote memorised them. But the story for EVERY has stuck...maybe because it is quite a un-visual concept?

Also, for me:

EACH= 各 = walking legs + mouth = walkie talkie.

The image of people radioing their base for help on their walkie talkies is quite a strong one - I never get it mixed up with EVERY.

I wasn't viewing the kanji itself as hard to learn, more the fact that it might be awkward to make stories out of it.

@DavidZ: I like Monty Python, I may go with that. I guess I'll work out what I'll do when I come to it, I'm still a couple of lessons off yet

reclining mother? mine was MILF, though for some reason I didn't share that one...

"Dark", maybe.
http://www.kanjinetworks.com/eng/kanji-d...i_id=ONM40

yeah every is not that bad. actually its very easy. or maybe i just have a messed up imagination that helps me to remember the whacked out stories i use.

If you already know 海, my story for that word could help: Every（毎） sea（海） has water（水） in it. -> Just forget about the water radical, and you'll get "every".

Yeah, since it's a common primitive, go for rote I did really love the Freud story, though. Really hilarious stuff.