Character #306: 直 zhí
3 Lessons
Make a Movie 直
KEYWORD:
Straight
Pinyin:
zhí
Actor:
zh- (Male)
Set:
Ø Childhood Home
Room within Set:
Kitchen or Hallway
Prop(s):
十 (Syringe or Christian Cross)
目 (Eye)
一 (Razor Blade) X 2
Member Comments from 2019-mid-2020
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Chad Ressler
Location: Childhood Home (Kitchen)
Actor: Joey (Brother-In-Law)
Props: Razor Blade, Eye of Sauron, Cross
I am with my brother in law in the kitchen of my childhood home where the Eye of Sauron now stands. My brother in law was recently converted to Christianity and is railing against the demonic Eye. Dressed as a Knight's Templar, he rushes up to the Eye of Sauron slicing through the bottom while stabbing it through the middle with a Christian Cross. The entire time he is doing this, he is shouting the last part of Isaiah 40:3, "make STRAIGHT in the desert a highway for our God".Mandarin Blueprint
Here's the link to where Phil & Luke talked about this comment in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast:
https://youtu.be/n9Ae1W7m3no?list=PL_T_LpTzhQ1ihGzQaTSeYEvr8_jmImnO-&t=211
John Hay
Why does this character have a line on its left in some fonts and none in others? Is it important? (Just curious)
Mandarin Blueprint
For others reading this, John is referring to this phenomenon:
Correct Version: https://imgur.com/4WLjvWS
Weird Version: https://imgur.com/cajCHxy
I've seen this before but never knew why they appear like that. I did some research, and it turns out they are pre-1960's versions of the simplified characters made for print. Here are some other ones that are slightly different:
値緖胄敎眞兪叧
Not sure why they still sometimes appear this way, but they couldn't have been around very long in this form. The first mass simplification was in 1956, the second in 1964, and these were all pre-1960, so they only would have looked like that for four years.Ryan Smith
The version with the line on the left ( 直 ) is the form of this character used in Japanese, vs 直 which is used for Chinese (traditional and simplified).
Normally the character is encoded in computers as 直, which lets the font pick whether it's the Japanese or Chinese character, but there are specific code points to force one version or the other, which is what I did in the first paragraph.
Image credit: https://www.hanzi5.com
Comments 5
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PHASE 1 (Levels 1-6)
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- How our Pinyin Chart is Different
- What are Chinese Characters?
- Props
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- Scripts
- Inspiration for Scripts
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- Timeboxing
- Why SRS is So Important: Frequency & Memory
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- Habit Building Part 1 - Triggers
- Habit Building Part 2 - Routine
- Habit Building Part 3 - Reward
- Habit Building Part 4 - Belief
- Stroke Order Rule #1
- Stroke Order Rule #2
- Stroke Order Rule #3
- Stroke Order Rule #4
- Stroke Order Rule #5
- Stroke Order Rule #6
- Stroke Order Rule #7
- Stroke Order Rule #8
- Stroke Order Rule #9
- Stroke Order Rule #10
- Stroke Order Rule #11
- Stroke Order Rule #12
PHASE 2 (Levels 7-12)
- Understanding Chinese Words - Morphemes
- The Six Steps to Learning Words
- 3 Questions About Words
- Top-Down & Bottom-Up Learning
Living Links Series
Word Structure Series
- Part 1 - What are Chinese Words?
- Part 2 - Verb-What 述宾式
- Part 3 - Verb-How 补充式
- Part 4 - Biased 偏正式
- Part 5 - Parallel 并列式
- Part 6 - Duplicated 重叠式
- Part 7 - Subject-Predicate 主谓式
- Part 8 - Affixed 附加式
PHASE 3 (Levels 13-20)
- The Basic Chinese Sentence
- Helper - Expressing Possession with 的
- Helper - When You Can Omit 的
- Helper - Completed Actions with 了
- Helper - Change of State with 了
- Helper - Present Actions with 着
- Connector - Saying 'But' with 但是 - 可是 - 不过
- Connector - Reasons & Actions with 因为..., 所以...
- Connector - Conditional "If-Then" Statements with 如果..., 就
- Connector - Conditional "If-Then" Statements with 要是...的话
- Connector - "Or" in Questions with 还是
- Connector - “Or" in Statements with 或/或者
- Relator - Using 为 to Express "For"
- Relator - Expressing "From" with 从
- Relator - Expressing Location with 在
- Special - Using 在 as a Verb
- Tone - Softening Tone of Voice with 呢
- “How Does What" - Adverbs of Denial
- “How Does What" - Adverbs of Degree
PHASE 4 (Levels 21-30)
Level 21
- Transferring Money by Smartphone or Bank
- Walk in the Park?! I Have 汉字 to Study!
- Who Determine's a Baby's Looks, Mom or Dad?
Level 22
- How Many Pages of the Book Have You Read?
- Many People Don't Want to Have Babies
- My Girlfriend Can Really Eat!
- What Do You Like to Do?
- What Method Works for Learning Chinese?
Level 23
- Eating Bread
- I Met My Girlfriend in the Park
- Something is Different About My Dog Lately
- The Older Brother is Better Than the Younger Brother
- The Right and Left Side of the Office
- Three Meals a Day
Level 24
- Annoying People
- Breaking Up at the End of the Date
- Going on a Date
- My Two Friends and I
- Overtime at Work
- Red Packets
- Two People in a Relationship
Level 25
- I Want to Find a Boyfriend Too
- My Dad and I
- My Dog Chouchou
- The Big Changes of China
- The Weather is Great, Let's Go to the Park!
- Xiaomei and Her Boyfriend's Day
Level 26
Level 27
- American Journalist Studies Chinese in China
- Can I Still Learn Chinese Anymore?
- Should I Change?
- Children and Their Parents
- Foreigner's Opinion of China
- What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Level 28
- Daughter & Mother
- Son's Eighth Birthday
- Study, Work & Life
- What's More Important, Looks, or Ability?
Level 29
- Advertisements
- Buying Tickets at Chinese New Year
- Everybody Restaurant
- How Does One Progress
- Son is Out of Control
Level 30
- Cars, Bicycles & Trains
- Potatoes & Beef
- Two Ladies Compare Who's Got it Better
- Young People Raising Cats and Dogs
Phase 4 Grammar Points
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Nick
Would it be a mistake to create a story linking this to the homophone 'straight' being the opposite to homosexual? And then maybe a Pride flag or rainbow as prop?
Mandarin Blueprint
Not a mistake! In fact, this is the word used to describe straight men and women in Chinese (直男/女), so even though it's not the *only* meaning of 直, making a mnemonic with that version of the keyword is still appropriate.
Annette Bicknell
I went with two props rather than all four items:
Zhao Gao is in my childhood home kitchen. He goes straight for the Giant Plus sign (十) in the corner, pulls it out and places it on top of the eye in the sky (目). The eye in the sky has recently had balance issues and the Giant Plus sign on top and the extended bottom lines on either side will help straighten out that issue.
John Nomura
目 mu4 has 2 inner lines & 2 eyes. The 3 eyed monster is everything but the cross, The 3 inner lines -each line represents an eye. In my childhood kitchen, Jackie Chan points his cross (十 ) STRAIGHT (直) at the 3 eyed monster and then tilts it slightly to one side. (note: the cross is not perpendicular - it is slanted).
Stephanie Arapian
Mike Wazowski (prop) is carrying/holding a rather Large Christian Cross (prop) , while Jim Carrey uses a Pencil (prop) to draw the correct placing on the wall of the kitchen.
The two then nail it into place. Mike steps back, looking critically.
"Are sure that's Straight?"
Jim: "That my friend is perfectly Straight."
"I'm not so sure about that."
Mike takes the Pencil, sets it on one of the 'shoulders' of the cross and steps back.
The Pencil rolls off.
They look at each other.
Jim: "Does it have to be perfectly Straight? I've heard she's pretty flexible."