九
=
丿
+
一
+
乚
:
Joan of Arc is on cloud nine in the outhouse. With a shovel, she dug up a banana: when she peeled it she found a flute inside, with which she instantly fell in love.
十
=
一
+
丨
:
Mnemonic symbol: a holy cross. Sherlock Holmes (sh-) is investigating a very strange thing he found in the kitchen of the space station (-2): A big pyramid made of ten (十) crosses (十), which are in turn made out of flutes (一) and dinosaur bones (丨).
lit. ninety li is merely a half of a hundred li journey (idiom) / fig. the closer one is to completing a task, the tougher it gets / a task is not done until it's done
