Hot Button Topics (religion, politics, sports)

[Nichi]

It depends on the person, really. I don't want one, but some people I know that have them can pull them off well.

[Simonorged]

Not really into the whole idea of jamming 10 needles into my arm a hundred times per second.
Or the idea of having something permanently placed on my arm.

[Chocofreak13]

i want 2. my sister has 2 and wants a few more, i think. my mother isn't into the idea but i've made up my mind. they're also designs that won't look horrible when i'm old, and they have a lot of personal significance.

[Bella]

As long as you're sure that it's something you want on your body for the rest of your life and can be responsible about it (i.e., have it done by a licensed, professional artist in sanitary conditions, and are responsible with aftercare and the like) I see no problem with tattoos.

Personally, I doubt I'll ever have any tattoos done. There aren't many things I can think of that I'd want on my body for eternity, and I don't know if I could actually handle the discomfort / pain of the tattooing and healing process.

On the other hand, I can think of one subject I feel strongly enough about that I could carry it on me for the rest of my life. Some sort of New England-related tattoo might be nice, since it's my favorite place on earth and I'd like to be able to carry a piece of it with me everywhere I go. Something along these lines would be cool, though I've also thought about some sort of NH/VT "yin and yang" design or something Boston related. IDK, it would take me so much time to think it through, find an artist I trust enough and saving up the money to have it done that it would probably take me months (if not years) between deciding to do it and actually having it done. >>;;

[Chocofreak13]

if you're getting a tattoo done and you live in the area, i'm dragging you to tattoo fever. the guy not only knows my uncle (i think they grew up together or something), but he also has celebrity clientele who fly into boston to meet him (he drives down) to get work done. the waitlist is a bit long (gotta make an appointment a few months in advance), but given his prowess and notoriety, it's totally worth it.

[alfonso_rd_30]

personally, I'd like the kanji for "wind" tatooed on my wrist

[Chocofreak13]

be wary of getting foriegn characters tattooed. the artist can sometimes misspell them or screw them up in some other way.

[alfonso_rd_30]

be wary of getting foriegn characters tattooed. the artist can sometimes misspell them or screw them up in some other way.

that I know

[Chocofreak13]

yeah, sometimes it can be especially bad (ex: SVU episode where college fraternity members got tattoos in chinese: "They were going for 'Try or Die'." "Going for?" "Actually it reads 'Pie or Die'; the Tattoo Artist was having some fun.").

if i were you, i'd ask a native speaker (or at least someone fluent; yay internet!) to confirm the character is what you think it is. :\

[Pitkin]

Wind is simple enough. One of the first kanjis I learnt years ago.

[Chocofreak13]

fair enough. but the rule comes into play with any foriegn language, or even anything difficult. i'm just lucky the two designs i've picked are basically impossible to fuck up.

[Pitkin]

It'd indeed be a potentially terrible mistake to not be sure and to trust an unknown tattoo artist to not pull a fast one. x)

[SleepyD]

I present this website:
http://hanzismatter.blogspot.com/

Think engrish, but reversed with Chinese Hanzi/Japanese Kanji characters. And tattooed on people.

[Chocofreak13]

@pitkin: but it has some hilarious results. xD

though tbh if someone doesn't trust the tattoo artist they're getting work from, they're a damn idiot for going there in the first place. :\

@sleepy: thanks man. -w-

[SleepyD]

Yeah, there's a particular post that's amusing:
http://hanzismatter.blogspot.com/2006/08/gibberish-asian-font-mystery-solved.html

Apparently there's a english alphabet to chinese character conversion chart that's popular among tattoo parlors. So watch out there. haha

Also I found this post rather amusing:
http://hanzismatter.blogspot.com/2012/11/from-jk-to-tiangotlostgmail.html