洗

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wash

On-Yomi: セン — Kun-Yomi: あら.う

Elements:

wash, water, water droplets, water pistol, before, cow, human legs

Heisig story:

This character is so logical that one is tempted to let the elements speak for themselves: water . . . before. But we have already decided we will not allow such rationalism to creep into our stories. Not even this once. Instead, let us change the character from the Peanuts comic strip called "Pigpen," who is always preceded by a little cloud of dust and grime, and rename him "Wash-Out." Everywhere he walks, a spray of water goes before him to sanitize everything he touches.

Koohii stories:

1) [AndamanIslander] 10-2-2008(286): In Japan, you always wash with water from the shower before you enter the bathtub.

2) [undershaft] 27-2-2007(80): You wash things with WATER to get them back to the clean state they were in BEFORE.

3) [stephjapan2004] 25-10-2007(41): WASH with WATER BEFORE doing anything.

4) [mcbainpc] 25-6-2008(29): You need water before you can wash.

5) [Melamelachan] 3-8-2007(16): In 1525, the city of Salzburg was occupied. Legend has it that there was nothing left to eat, except for one cow. To trick the occupying forces, people would paint the cow, and send a human (with human legs) and the cow out for a walk, clearly visible to the enemies. Then, they would use some water to wash the cow and paint it with a different colour and so on. Seeing there were still plenty of cows left, the occupiers finally gave up. The people of Salzburg are still called cow-washers.

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