冒天下之大不韪

冒 = 冃 + 目 : Mahatma Gandhi (m) caught a cold (冒) and as he sneezes ("冒") in the aorta's bathroom (ao4), he sneezes so vividly that he sneezes off the eye of providence's (目) basecap (冃) of its head.

冒

mào = m + ao4

surname Mao

冒

mào = m + ao4

to emit / to give off / to send out (or up, forth) / to brave / to face / reckless / to falsely adopt (sb's identity etc) / to feign / (literary) to cover

天

tia̅n = ti + an1

day / sky / heaven

天 = 一 + 大 : Mother Teresa (ti) programmed a robot (大) to play a flute duet together with her in front of the anthill (an1). As they play their flutes (一) an angel (天) hears their heavenly tune and descends from heaven to listen to them.

天

tia̅n

下

xià

land under heaven / the whole world / the whole of China / realm / rule

下

xià = xi + a4

down / downwards / below / lower / later / next (week etc) / second (of two parts) / to decline / to go down / to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc) / measure word to show the frequency of an action

下 = 一 + 卜 : Mnemonic symbol: from the up/down logic, and a little bit the shape of the character, a ladder.

Xi Shi (xi) is on a retreat in the ashram. Using a voodoo staff (卜), she divined that next (下) week she'll have to play the flute (一) sixteen hours per day. Because she hates playing the flute, she climbs over the ashram's bathroom (a4) wall using a ladder (下) to escape.

之

zhi̅ = zh + Ø1

(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de5]) / him / her / it

之 = 丶 + Z : Mnemonic symbol: Sooo sleepy... "zZz" (the character looks like a "Z"). James II of England (zh) fell asleep in front of the space station (Ø1). He sleeps on a big petal leaf (丶), making loud "zZz" (之) sounds.

大

dài = d + ai4

see 大夫[dai4 fu5]

大

dà = d + a4

big; large; great / older (than another person) / eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]) / greatly; freely; fully / (dialect) father / (dialect) uncle (father's brother)

大 = 一 + 人 : The big (大), huge (大) robot (mnemonic symbol for 大) is working out in the ashram's bathroom (a4). He's lifting a flute (一) to which Don Quixote (d) and Neanderthal man (人) are clinging.

不

bù = bu + Ø4

(negative prefix) / not / no

不 = 丆 + 卜 : Bruno Bear (bu) is setting up a wind wheel (丆) with a voodoo staff (卜) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4). He also puts a "forbidden" sign (mnemonic symbol for 不) on it, to make clear that it may not (不) be stopped.