avalonjones sent me- and discovered I was right. Basic problem: I don't read hanzi as Chinese, I read them as English. Give me the same character in Japanese and though I know what it means, my mind now struggles to remember the Japanese word-- since it lacks the not quite seen but definitely *there* furigana of the manga. 'Kobamu-- yodomu-- no, *hasamu* what-the-hey-does-that-mean-in-this-contIt's a bitter struggle, I tell you.
