to go through / to know well / (suffix) expert / to connect / to communicate / open / to clear / classifier for letters, telegrams, phone calls etc
通
=
甬
+
辶
:
In front of the engine a pile of yongzhong bells were blocking the way. Tommy Turtle attended to the matter and cleared the way. He lined the bells up to two lines, put on his gladiator sandals and now marches right through this path screened by walls on two sides like a roman general.
custom / convention / popular / common / coarse / vulgar / secular
俗
=
亻
+
谷
:
Rosa Luxemburg (亻) just arrived at the space station and in the entrance (Ø2) she sees Susan Saint Bernard (su) hanging out in her web. Rosa brought some popcorn (谷) as a present and asks Susan Saint Bernard whether she wants to watch a movie, which she does. Both of them think "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" (俗), so Rosa climbs up to Susan Saint Bernard in her web and Susan Saint Bernard eats some of Rosa's popcorn.
小
=
八
+
亅
:
Mnemonic symbol: a small daisy. 小 looks like the stem 亅 of the flower is pushing aside the earth 八 as it grows out of the seed in the ground.
Xi Shi (xi) is decorating her hair with lots of small (小) daisies (mnemonic symbol for 小) in the aorta's living room (ao3). She wants to have lots of daisies in the future as well, so she plants new daisies. She found that the perfect substrate for planting daisies is made by crushing eight-balls (八) with a crow bar (亅).
to speak / to say / to explain / to scold / to tell off / a theory (typically the last character in a compound, as in 日心說|日心说 heliocentric theory)
说
=
兑
+
讠
:
In front of the observatory is a big advertising column. On it is a picture of Sheldon Shrimp, who is depicted to be talking about his new cash exchange booth.