Kung Fu Tattoo

**dwid** · 08-20-2003, 11:21 AM

There are undoubtedly tons of people who think they know what their tattoo says and are dead wrong.

I have a lot of friends in the tattoo biz, and the exception to the rule is for someone to go to the trouble of finding the kanji character they want in an actual dictionary.

Oftentimes, people rely on much more questionable sources, like bringing in any number of items they bought that already have a kanji character on them that is supposed to mean a particular thing.

Case in point, one of my tattoo artist friends was given a coffee mug years ago that supposedly had his name in Kanji on it. This was before the current explosion of popularity of the stuff, and he was a young tattoo artist, so he decided to tattoo the character on his leg. It turned out several of his relatives had received mugs bearing identical characters, all of which were supposedly representative of their individual names. To this day, he has no idea what the character tattooed on his leg means.

**Judge Pen** · 08-20-2003, 11:28 AM

A guy in college had characters tattooed on his back and an asian guy told him that they were upside down.

**chen zhen** · 08-20-2003, 11:29 AM

My friend has an Mpeg of that one. It's real, all right.

Uh-Oh

**GeneChing** · 08-20-2003, 11:29 AM

Back when I doing some work for Jackie Chan's Save the Tiger campaign for Wild Aid/ACAP I was selling these little Chinese calligraphy paintings with the word "Tiger" on it to raise funds. This guy came up to my table and said "I got this tattoo, it's supposed to say 'tiger' but it doesn't match what yours said." We couldn't recognize the character, but luckily we were selling Chinese dictionaries at that table and we looked it up. Well, it did mean tiger in the 4th definition or so, but the first definition was 'clown.' That was a great one - there was a tat artist who really knew his trade.

**dwid** · 08-20-2003, 11:34 AM

there was a tat artist who really knew his trade.

I think this sentence is based in a misconception that's part of the problem.

Tattoo artists are, at best, artists. They can draw something to tattoo on you or modify something you bring to them so it will look better on skin. It isn't their job to verify that a character means what you think it means. If you're going to put something on your skin for the rest of your life, it's probably wise to be **** sure you know exactly what it is.

Anyway, just a pet peeve of mine.

**CaptinPickAxe** · 08-20-2003, 11:41 AM

it would be hilariously ironic if it were real, but chances are its an urban legend. My friend got a japanese character tattooed on his neck. He claimed it said, "I f*cked your mom," but was just two different symbols thrown together... I guess its a nicer version of this story...

**dwid** · 08-20-2003, 11:44 AM

That's funny.

That's the first phrase I was ever taught in Mandarin.

**Shaolin-Do** · 08-20-2003, 11:45 AM

Thought it was "I f*cked your sister"
Whatever it was, probably wasnt right.

**CaptinPickAxe** · 08-20-2003, 01:18 PM

it was "...mom".........i couldn't of said much, it was done by a drunken idiot turned navy seal.

**Starchaser107** · 08-20-2003, 01:24 PM

they Deserve what they got, if the story is real, and I hope it is.
Bandwagonists and mindless idiots.

**norther practitioner** · 08-20-2003, 01:32 PM

I'm sure that one is a spoof.. but there have been cases of "kanji gone wrong."

**Stranger** · 08-20-2003, 02:12 PM

Whether the people were stupid or not, that little pr1ck should get beaten, held down by his victims, and have them go to work on him with a tattoo gun. Who has the right to brand somebody for life with something they didn't want that makes them a joke to millions of people? I have no tats, but I say this guy is a worm. If he were a man, he'd tell people "no" when they asked and then back up "no" with his policy statement unashamed. He didn't have the sack for that. I hope he gets everything he deserves.

The guy is Japanese and the characters are referred to as Chinese probably due to the Chinese origin of Japanese kanji characters.

**kungfuyou** · 08-20-2003, 03:39 PM

Originally posted by Stranger
Whether the people were stupid or not, that little pr1ck should get beaten, held down by his victims, and have them go to work on him with a tattoo gun. Who has the right to brand somebody for life with something they didn't want that makes them a joke to millions of people? I have no tats, but I say this guy is a worm. If he were a man, he'd tell people "no" when they asked and then back up "no" with his policy statement unashamed. He didn't have the sack for that. I hope he gets everything he deserves.

The guy is Japanese and the characters are referred to as Chinese probably due to the Chinese origin of Japanese kanji characters.

AGREED!!! This isn't something that just washes off! Why does it matter if they are bandwagoning or not?? If it's something someone wants, no one deserves to be "branded" with something that they didn't want or know about because the tattoo artist has an issue with why they are doing it!! Just like stranger said, he has the right to say no!! If I was one of those people, he would be paying out the nose!!

**shaolin kungfu** · 08-20-2003, 03:56 PM

First of all, its probably not true.

And if it is true, he probably felt they were degrading is culture and heritage, and wanted to get back at them through their ignorance. It may not be just because they are "gettin on the band wagon".

**Stranger** · 08-20-2003, 04:11 PM

A person wants to write something on their body in a foreign language, and you think it is "degrading to his culture and heritage" enough that this spineless backstabber has the righteous authority to carve and stain the skin of his human customers with petty insults? I'm not saying he has no right to be upset (although it is still being thin-skinned IMO), but he crossed the line. If he didn't want to do it, he should of just said he wouldn't or couldn't. I'm saying, be a man about it.

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