Meaning mnemonic for 都合？

[Torao92]

this is one of my worst leeches. I keep forgetting the meaning so I hope one of you can help me out with that.

[jprspereira]

I don’t know which mnemonic they use but here’s one.

都合 = metropolis + suit.

Why?

Because you have つごう (to go) to the metropolis (都) at your convenience 合 (the way it suits you the most).

[fl0rm]

By complaining, you’ve taken the first, and most effective, step in this journey.

No, really. You’ll remember creating this thread the next time it comes up and that’ll help a lot with recalling it. Complaining to friends over IM also works well. Or writing stuff down on sticky notes and putting them on your bathroom wall and seeing them each day for a week.

[vargsvans]

Mine was reeeally desperate.

I struggled with it is as well, remembering the reading but forgetting the meaning.
Then I spent a solid minute singing the following over and over loudly to myself:

Letsu go (都合) to the convenience store!

I then repeated this song every time it came up for review.

It worked.

EDIT: For bonus points, invent a dance as well.

[acm2010]

I had problems with this as well, it is kind of strange. And I have the feeling that it is quite common, but I don’t remember ever hearing it. Probably because I heard it anyway but never made the connection back …

Edit: the 合/ごう reading will appear more frequently later, good to remember it in the beginning!

[gavinr]

This word is pretty common but it seems to be used mainly in these two set phrases:

都合がいい - convenient
都合が悪い - inconvenient

Learning these two are more helpful than just 都合 on its own and might help you to remember.

[xyzbuster]

I don’t know if any of you know, but another meaning of 都 is “all”. Like in the word

都度 = every time (all times).

Therefore:
都合 = 都 (all) + 合 (unification/join/suit) = all unification = at all times unification = (at any time / convenience). It is essentially saying all times I can unify, therefore do at your convenience.

PS. I have unification as part of the meaning for 合. It matched its corresponding vocabulary more in my head.

[carolk]

I remember it like this: it’s convenient to buy my food/coffee “to go”

you know… as opposed to “have here”