So, while trying to look up the meaning of a Japanese name, I got sidetracked into reading various rants about Westerners getting kanji tattoos without really understanding their meaning. I can understand why people are taken with the elegance of expressing a concept in one or two characters, but I also think it's pretty silly to get it done without thoroughly researching the design. I also think it's stupid to get a tattoo just to follow a trend, although I'm sure plenty of people have kanji characters for their own personal reasons, which have nothing to do with fashion. I tried looking up the characters for 'Grace' (my name) in various languages, before concluding that the English word is as neat a way as any of expressing the meaning, and contains - of course - all the fuller and deeper meanings of the word that I would intend to convey with it. I then wondered if anyone here has a tattoo in another language or has any opinions on the subject.
If its going to stuck on your body for life you should know what it means. I just got a simple design for my tat, words even in another language are too dangerous... There was a story of a guy who got something written in Japanese or Chinese, but the tattoo artist was a smartarse who wrote in the language something like: "I am a dickhead". When the guy figured it out he sued the tattoo guy and one... On a side note I knew a girl who bought a t-shirt in Bangkok with Chinese writing on it across the chest. She and her boyfriend were at a Chinese restaurant and kept wondering why the Chinese waiters kept laughing and sniggering. They finally asked what was so funny and it turned out the writing siad "Check these out". She never wore that t-shirt again.
As soon as I saw the title of this topic my mind jumped to this comic from Questionable Content: http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=410 Also I have no tattoo, but if I were planning on getting a word permanently inked on my body, I'd want to be able to read it. edit to fix link. And edit again to give it up. Screw it.
I'll answer this properly later, but I just saw the 404 Error page for the Questionable content page and it's darn funny
I hate links. :evil: I also hate insomnia. But that's beside the point. As you were, good people. As you were.
Frankly, Ba sees no point in tattooing in the first place. That said, he saw a fellow with some extremely cool ones at Comic-Con.
So, air-con' on, brain running, painkillers taken, now answer question. I think whatever the design, a tatoo should be well thought over, researched (internet does help a lot for that nowadays) and desired for a while before the tatoo is done. My husband has just had one done, a tribal-style dragon designed by me, but he has wanted a dragon tatoo since he was a kid, and took plenty of time to research designs that he liked, look up meanings (facing left, facing right, standing, lying, etc.) and finally deciding on what he wanted. Be it writing or symbols, some tatoos can be misinterpreted or just plain stupid, like your example of chinese/japanese writing, or other symbols, especially religious-like ones, such as 5 or 6 pointed stars, crescent moons, crosses, etc. Also placing of tatoos can be very important, anything on the face, neck or hands is immediately a no-no for any job with customer contact in most countries, and can also unfortunately lead to prejudice in other situations, because having visible tatoos is frowned on in most european countries, and from what I have heard, in Japan too, as the Yakuza are usually heavily tatooed. It's a mark for life, and just because it seems a good idea at the time, you may have to suffer the consequences later, so it really must be thought about properly. A good tatoo artist would tell you all this and make sure you have really thought about it before doing anything, and of course inform you about hygiene and care. Ours made sure my husband had someone to disinfect and hydrate his tatoo with the special ointment before he accepted to tatoo that specific area (upper middle of back, he couldn't do it himself). That said, I'm not a great fan of tatoos, certainly not on myself. But on the lighter subject of t-shirts, the French have a great love of anything that looks like english on t-shirts, bags, posters, etc. and it produces some pretty funny results sometimes. I remember a small boy with "Texas Gowgirl" on his tshirt, or less funny, a little girl with a "Horny !" t-shirt, plus many other things that make absolutely no sense at all even when they manage to actually form a proper sentence. Who cares, I have a t-shirt with english writing on it, that's cool ! Duh !
[quote:d336c44f55="Ba"]Frankly, Ba sees no point in tattooing in the first place. That said, he saw a fellow with some extremely cool ones at Comic-Con.[/quote:d336c44f55] I can't speak for anyone else, of course, but I can try to explain why I got a tattoo. I had been through a series of events that had a fairly colossal impact on my life and my family's lives, including nearly dying (acute appendicitis - the appendix had ruptured by the time they opened me up). I felt that, by the time I came out the other side, I was a changed person. I felt that I carried scars inwardly, as though life had branded me. I wanted to carry the mark of that physically too. It felt cathartic to make that statement, and I felt it marked my passage into something new. I also chose a symbol that for me is a sign of protection and of grace (in the Christian sense). It's like wearing a badge on my arm that says, "I have been through the fire and now you can't hurt me." I do get comments from people about it, because it's a symbol (the solar cross) that has been used by many different people for different reasons throughout history. However, it wasn't really a statement intended for anyone but myself. I would know it was there and what it meant. So, if it was just for me to know, why get it done at all? I suppose it's a little bit like making a promise aloud to yourself. You could just say it in your head, but saying it aloud, for a lot of people, makes it real. I wished to physically carry the mark that I felt. I chose my tattoo carefully to make sure it was something meaningful to me, that would remain meaningful (even if I lost my Christian faith). I don't think Garner likes my tattoo much, because he has ideas about what sort of people get tattoos, but I love it. I'll upload a picture of it to my album, for anyone who's interested.
Kanji are the same as Chinese letters by the way, they're the letters Japanese people use for old words like mountain, tree, man, woman etc. I suppose there's a certain elegance to their shapes, but I always thought it was a bit silly myself - though I'm a little tainted from living in Japan and being married to a Japanese woman in the past and actually knowing what most of them mean instantly, seeing them as their meaning before their appearance. It's sort of like when you see/hear Japanese/Chinese etc people mix-match English phrases in slogans to look cool. It really does look and sound cool to them, but is quite silly to us. It works both ways. Like I've seen a few people with the Kanji/Chinese character for 'woman' next to the character for 'Power', to represent 'Girl Power' from the Spice Girls, in fact I think one of the Spice Girls has it too, and it kind of makes me chuckle.
I have 4 tatoos and am planning a 5th, all of my tats mean something to me, my biggest and most expensive is an American Big Rig Truck, Its bright red, about 4 inches by 4 inches and its for my stepdad. He died last year and as a token of my respect for the man i regarded as my dad, he was a truck driver all his life and always dreamed of owning a real one just like it so now i own the dream for him. As far as the writing goes, i have a D on the truck to represent my stepdads name but thats as far as it goes. I do like the tatoo Robbie Williams has around his neck but agreeing with all the thoughts above, it is damned risky.
[quote:047fe3ac95="missy"]I do like the tatoo Robbie Williams has around his neck but agreeing with all the thoughts above, it is damned risky.[/quote:047fe3ac95] Admittedly, there's not much risk of him trying to get a job at MacDonalds or at a supermarket checkout...
thanks to a wonderfully disruptive attention deficit disorder, there's no possible tattoo that i could ever get that i wouldn't be bored of within ten minutes.
i had a flannel shirt that i wore every day as a jacket back in highschool... but i mean, at least that could have been washed. well, in theory anyway.
I don't have anything against tatoos on other people, it's just not something that ever interested me. I think if I was in a plane crash and came upon the lost pigmy tribe of Kantooba, then became accepted as one of their own, I wouldn't mind wearing one of their tribal tatoos - painstakingly, and painfully, hammered out into my skin with a sharp stick and plant extracts.
High Times did a 'best of psychedelics' issue once that had a cover i really liked, a person in a meditative posture with their nervous system, circulatory system, chakra points, and hell, why not biophysical leylines all picked out in bright organic lines. if i were to have gotten a tattoo, i'd have wanted something like that, but done in pointilism with a paisley theme, done all over in vivid electric turquoise. and you know what? i could have achieved much the same effect with a highlighter marker and it'd have washed off in the shower
I (like garner) could never get a tatoo because I would get bored with it. Look at all the times I have changed my sig/avatar.
I agree with the T-shirt thing- saw a lady in France walk past wearing a shirt which read "Pillowtalk is extra". I don't know if its better or worse if she knew what it meant.
T-shirts and similar - long ago I came across (possibly in the Readers' Digest - but I've shaken that shameful habit) a possibly apocryphal story about a woman who had a sweater knitted incorporating two Chinese characters that she had seen on a crate outside a grocery and had liked the look of- it was only some time later that she discovered how appropriate they were - she was, shall we say, not particularly well-endowed in the mammary area, and the characters she had chosen to splash across her chest read "Condensed Milk"! Tatoos - the only tatoo I would contemplate getting (and I have seriously thought about it) would be placed somewhere likely only to be spotted during an immediate examination after my death - inconspicuous enough not to be too noticeable on nude beaches etc. - stating my wishes on transplant surgery - when I go, I want to be broken up for spares - anything I've finished with which still works (which probably rules out my alcohol-soaked liver) I want to be used to give someone else a chance. The reason I would think about having this tatooed is that no-one can predict where they will be when they die - here in Belgium the theory is that anybody who dies is automatically transplant material unless they have opted out, but in Britain the assumption is (as far as I am aware) that the permission of next-of-kin is required, which can cause unnecessary (and possibly fatal) delays. Personally, I think the Belgian system is better, but does not go far enough, since it allows opt-out - but if opt-out is going to be allowed, then this gives another possibility for tatoos - anyone who does not want their organs after their death to give life to other people should have "I'm a selfish bastard" tatooed across their forehead.
Jumping on the hijacking cat here, I do think that's a bit harsh Pixel, although I fully agree on organ donation (the French system is like the Belgian one) I do understand that some people for reasons of their own (and not just selfishness) don't want to donate, and that they are still free to dispose of their own body the way they want. I mean some people don't even want to donate blood because of personal hangups, and of course, some out of plain can'tbebotheredness. I mean without going all the way to selfish, there is a place where people can just be genuinely uncomfortable or upset at the idea that they will get cut up and put inside other people, and I don't think they should be forced into it. That said, having your wishes tatooed somewhere (preferably on a part that's hard to lose) is a very good idea.
Pixel is always a bit harsh, it's his style, as is confusing Dickinsonesque punctuation. I think the idea is an interesting and worthwhile one, but I bet it would be argued that it did not constitute a formal document, and therefore the next-of-kin's permission would be required anyway (as is indeed necessary in the UK). However, at least the next-of-kin would know your wishes, which is often a major sticking point. My experience from working at the funeral director's is that a large number of people in this culture have a deep and abiding horror at the idea of what is seen as dismemberment of the body of the deceased. When a post mortem examination has to be carried out on a body, the organs all have to be removed and examined separately, and are then placed back inside the body (in a plastic bag, like giblets) before it's sown up. Many people who asked about this (and a lot of people do, since it is a matter of concern to them that the body should be intact) found even this disturbing and upsetting. They felt that there was something deeply wrong in the body being 'messed with'. Many people in the UK feel like this, and I imagine there are people in other cultures who feel the same way. Perhaps it is in part due to the mystique attached to the human body in a culture that is so shy about bodies generally. I remember when we did the funeral of a young man in his twenties who had specifically stated that he wished to have his body donated for scientific research, and his parents were absolutely distraught that they were unable to override his decision. As it turned out, his body wasn't wanted. Most bodies aren't. It takes a very fresh, very functional body to be of any use for either research or organ donation, and I believe only about 30% of those offered are viable. The best bets are usually those who have been involved in a serious accident but are being kept alive on a support system. And you can understand why, in those circumstances, the family can become angry or upset at being asked if they would consider organ donation for their not-yet-deceased loved one. A change in the law could well be helpful here, but I believe it would be against the deeply-held beliefs and instincts of the majority, at least as things stand at present. I think a programme of education and/or promotion would be required first.
Now if we mixed up Garner's idea with pixel's, we would get a "cut along the dotted line" diagram tatoo with organs of specific interest or (in the case of the liver) to be avoided, which would be even more helpful !
Isn't there an artist somewhere who paints/tattoos his work on pigs, who he then treats very well and delivers the artworks to clients when the pig dies? I think he has a few pre paid pigs, and at least one documentarist with a work of art on his back that may be auctioned when he dies.
Speaking of [s:683bdc84b9]pigs[/s:683bdc84b9] tatoos, there are some pics here of when my husband had his dragon done, sorry about the text being in French and all that...
re: the chinese characters spelling out something silly on a sweater... this is a well documented urban legend, but it's also one of those well documented 'true occurances', so who knows, eh? re pixel: no one should be forced to see pixel naked. not even doctors. even pixel, who believes in cruel and unusual punishment, would probaly not inflict that on anyone.
At work, two women had the exact same heart and vines tatooed on their wrists. The one who is in her 30's had hers outlined and had the color changed so her's is at least a little different from the lady's who is in her 60's. Tatooing has always seemed a little extreme for me. Maybe because I have always associated them with this scary fellow who was a friend of my dad. His were all fuzzy and weird, so was that big growth that damned near covered over his good eye. He had the growth removed and now I am not afraid of him at all but I probably will never want a tatoo, at least not anything other then the pencil lead one I have from gradeschool days.
My father had a rose tattoed down his arm in the 60ies, when [i:9cab5ca51f]not [/i:9cab5ca51f]everyone did it (only, as a friend of mine later said, question in his eyes, "Rockers and criminals"). He had it painfully removed in the 80ies. I'm still a little sad about that. The mean thing is, they weren't that far with laser technology back then... he kept a scar... which has the shape of a rose.
I have finally finished designing the core backpeice for my first tattoo. It's a circle with an Om inside it and a triangle behind it. It's very pretty and has taken me ages to design. This is going on the back of my neck, and I have a whole backpeice thought out. This is going to take alot of time and money, but it's something I have been wanting for a long time and have been in the process of designing it for years. I think that the first core peice will be done around Christmas. Katcal, I really like the dragon on the hubbys back, it's very original without being overly so.
[quote:a137cd819d="OmKranti"]I have finally finished designing the core backpeice for my first tattoo. It's a circle with an Om inside it and a triangle behind it. It's very pretty and has taken me ages to design. This is going on the back of my neck, and I have a whole backpeice thought out. This is going to take alot of time and money, but it's something I have been wanting for a long time and have been in the process of designing it for years. I think that the first core peice will be done around Christmas. Katcal, I really like the dragon on the hubbys back, it's very original without being overly so.[/quote:a137cd819d] Thanks Om, it's not 100% my own work, I mixed up a couple of the designs he liked the best and adapted it a bit... It's now in its final state, He'll be putting some more pics up soon... Congrats on your own design, keep us posted By the way, what's an Om ? (I could google it, but I'm sure other people will be interested to know )
[quote:cede1d8de6="Katcal"][quote:cede1d8de6="OmKranti"]I have finally finished designing the core backpeice for my first tattoo. It's a circle with an Om inside it and a triangle behind it. It's very pretty and has taken me ages to design. This is going on the back of my neck, and I have a whole backpeice thought out. This is going to take alot of time and money, but it's something I have been wanting for a long time and have been in the process of designing it for years. I think that the first core peice will be done around Christmas. Katcal, I really like the dragon on the hubbys back, it's very original without being overly so.[/quote:cede1d8de6] Thanks Om, it's not 100% my own work, I mixed up a couple of the designs he liked the best and adapted it a bit... It's now in its final state, He'll be putting some more pics up soon... Congrats on your own design, keep us posted By the way, what's an Om ? (I could google it, but I'm sure other people will be interested to know )[/quote:cede1d8de6] Om is a hindu word meaning 'sound of god' it is said that all life was created by god when he uttered the word Om and that it is the primal sound of the universe. This is an Om...it's pronounced AUM. [img:cede1d8de6]http://www.pondichery.com/french/om/omd1.gif[/img:cede1d8de6] The Om that I am designing is much like this one, except the lines are more wistful and soft. I wish I had some way to scan it and show you. Edit to add: I know someone will ask, so I thought I'd say it now. Kranti is Hindu for Revolution. So my name means 'God Revolution', or more precisely 'Sound Of God Revolution'
That sounds like it will look really cool Om. I would quite like a tattoo, but it'd just be too annoying never being able to get rid of it. I would probably end up getting it lasered off eventually.
Om- your design sounds pretty special to me and I wish you luck getting it done. I'm 35 :cry: and have been wanting to get a tattoo for a number of years but I keep changing my mind as to what I would like. (Celtic pattern / Thistle / St andrews Cross etc etc etc...) and I couldn't design my own as I am to art what Rincewind is to magic. What I have now done is printed out what I've decided I would like and stuck to to my monitor at work to see if I got sick of it — This was about nine months ago. If I still fancy it after christmas I'll go for it. (if Mrs Randywine lets me that is ) BTW its 4 lines from the Pink Floyd track Breathe (from Dark Side of the Moon) For all you live and high you fly Smiles you give and tears you cry All you touch and all you see Is all your life will ever be. Regards R.
[quote:782f64f9f8="Katcal"]Thanks Om, it's not 100% my own work, I mixed up a couple of the designs he liked the best and adapted it a bit... It's now in its final state, He'll be putting some more pics up soon... [/quote:782f64f9f8] Here they are for those what care...
I'd like a tattoo. But only one that would last for a couple of years, which i don't think you can get. I think even if you do get tatto that you end up thinking is pretty lame it doesn't really matter, a tattoo is like a pyshical picture it captures abit of who you are forever. You may look back on who you where 40 years ago a cringe, but that doesn't matter becuase thats who you where it existed and your tied to it weather you've got a reminder of it or not. If I did get a real tattoo i'd like to get a shape that can be added too, so each year of my life I can add another bit, maybe i'll add a monkey or a pac-man ghost or a shape that i'll look back on and think it's stupid, maybe i'll add a word or drawing that will stay beuatifull to me forever, it wouldn't really matter. It would act like a pyhiscal map of my life. Which i think would be prettycool, if a little hokey. The worse tattto i seen was where someone had those Iron, manchine washable pictures that you find on labels. Oh and the Nike tick. How rubbish.
[quote:f7f922ee6f="Rincewind"]The worse tattto i seen was where someone had those Iron, manchine washable pictures that you find on labels. Oh and the Nike tick. How rubbish.[/quote:f7f922ee6f] Really? Machine washable lables? Thats a new one, I've never heard of that before. I wonder what posseses someone to get something like that. The same with the Nike tick, why would you want a symbol of corporate marketing on your body for ever. Hummm..
[quote:187b2360a2="Rincewind"]He really liked the trainers. :roll: ....The loser. [/quote:187b2360a2] Okely dokely. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
It's not a tick, it's wings... Nike's wings... But then the French think it's a comma, not much better than a tick I guess...
[quote:fee6f11c56="Rincewind"]How is it wings?[/quote:fee6f11c56] Yeah! Justify that remark, for we are curious.
It's meant to be a stylised version of the wings of the goddess Nike, whom the brand is named after... It's rather a controversial version, as Wikipedia explains, but I still like it to be wings... Edit : bloody link !!
A lot of . . . em. . . people from the lower socio-economic end of things get tattoos of like a playboy bunny (for the girls), stuff like that. Which I would [i:bae4de0e19]not[/i:bae4de0e19] like. Ew.
I've started to think about getting a full back tattoo. I have yet to decide on a concept/motif I like, but there is a studio here in my town that seems to share my idea of what to accomplish, in terms of coverage and uses of colours and shading. Sample here and here, although those are obviously drawings and not tattoos. Then again, in a half a year I might have completely abandoned the thought.
[quote:1de41140ca="KaptenKaries"] Then again, in a half a year I might have completely abandoned the thought...[/quote:1de41140ca]With that attitude I would say a full back tattoo may not be the way to go.
[quote:5835d60054="Maljonic"][quote:5835d60054="KaptenKaries"] Then again, in a half a year I might have completely abandoned the thought...[/quote:5835d60054]With that attitude I would say a full back tattoo may not be the way to go. [/quote:5835d60054] Ah, yes. That much I've realised that once I've decided on what I want to get, now, I should print it out, large, and put it on my living room wall for a year or so and see if I still like the idea. Still, I think if I were to get a tattoo, I don't want a patchwork of small images, I want a big, clean, coherent theme.
I still don't trust my aesthetic instincts enough to find something I'd still want to look at in 10 or twenty years. If I were more spontaneous, I'd now be wearing a stylized tea leaf somewhere or a self designed ornament on my body. I always thought that for example a black panther on the belly or in similar, stretching-endangered areas might be a bad idea in any case, due to the black panther changing gradually into a shaggy tiger.
[quote:eb46fc43e5="Hsing"] [...]If I were more spontaneous, I'd now be wearing a stylized tea leaf somewhere [...] [/quote:eb46fc43e5] Oooh how about a fig leaf covering your privates! Best bloody idea I've ever thought up!
Nooo, stupid idea. You'd have to go shaved forever, or have your private parts look like a mutant azalea leaf.
Damn sensible people going around ruining my best ideas ever all the time grumble grumble. Edit: "best" has an s in it.
