Tattoos -- Love 'Em or Hate 'Em?

[Morgbug]

Personally I'm not a fan.  Now don't take it the wrong way, I'm just not into them myself.  For a couple of reasons really:

1. I can't think of anything I think I want on my body for all eternity like that.  There's just nothing that I consistently think will be forever that important.  Perhaps that's a tad cynical, but I've seen far too many things go wrong in people's lives that aren't within their control.  I like the notion that Mikey has with his son's name and the ones that Tracy mentioned, those sound significant.

2. It screws up with my blood donations.  I'm O-neg, so they call all the time and hey, why not, it's not like I'm using it.  If I get a tatoo, it's a year before I can donate again.  A tatoo isn't worth it to me.

3.  Honestly, it's great to turn 18 and get one, but don't for a second think that you'll be loving the same thing at 42 that you did at 18.  Oh sure, there's a chance you will, but at least an equally good chance that you won't.  And you're stuck with it.

4. You ain't going to look at 50 like you do at 18.  What, maybe 1% of people stay fit to that age?  That little barb-wire tat on your gun/pipe/bicep may look great while you're just out of school and working out 3 hours a day, five days a week but I got news for you bub, it won't look so hot when you weigh in at 350 pounds that ain't muscle.  It's going to look stupid.  Worse when it's on women - they look awesome when they're 5'8" and 125, not so good 20 years down the road and 50 pounds later

5. If the decision is because it makes you unique, it probably doesn't.  Know anybody with a Tasmanian Devil tatoo on their ass?  I know about 50 different people that do.  There's lots of cool tatoos out there on the boards to pick from, many well done, colorful and attractive.  But if it's me and 4763 of my closest friends with the same tatoo, I don't see the point.  

6.  How many of you can accurately read Chinese?  How do you know that every Chinese person in the world isn't laughing their ass off at you behind your back?  Oh sure, the artist said it means peace but it really says whore.  Nuh-uh, I don't trust them that much.  

The truth of the matter is it's your business and your decision.  Like anything else in life, if it's not negatively affecting someone else it's none of their bloody business, so do what makes you happy.  But please, please for the sake of everyone else don't cheap out and get a crappy, half-assed, half-finished tatoo.  Find out who the good artist is and pay for it to be done properly and well. Make it personal and meaningful to yourself.  

[JoshEEE]

How many of you can accurately read Chinese?  How do you know that every Chinese person in the world isn't laughing their ass off at you behind your back?  Oh sure, the artist said it means peace but it really says whore.  Nuh-uh, I don't trust them that much.

I was joking with my friends that I should get a tattoo that says "Pork Fried Rice" in Chinese because it'll be hilarious when I actually run into someone that reads Chinese and I insist to them over and over that it says "Strong Will Forever".

It would be an expensive, painful and silly way to set up a joke, but I don't think I'd ever get tired of playing that game whenever someone who reads Chinese laughed at my tattoo.

[Tracy]

Personally I'm not a fan.  Now don't take it the wrong way, I'm just not into them myself.  For a couple of reasons really:

1. I can't think of anything I think I want on my body for all eternity like that.  There's just nothing that I consistently think will be forever that important.  Perhaps that's a tad cynical, but I've seen far too many things go wrong in people's lives that aren't within their control.  I like the notion that Mikey has with his son's name and the ones that Tracy mentioned, those sound significant.

That would be the reason for getting one -- to mark the significance of my family and faith.  I would most likely put that tattoo on my ankle where it can be seen -- its not something I want to hide away.  I am having more difficulty deciding about the other tattoo.  Other than the birth of my children, the most profound experience of my life was being with Shannon when she died.  I would like to pay homage to that in some way also.  I don't know whether to include her somehow in the cross with my family or have her name on a small tattoo somewhere else.  Part of me thinks it was such an overwhelming experience and I should tuck it away somewhere just for me.  Another part says I should proudly carry her name for all to see so I can tell her story.

[I Am Sith]

How many of you can accurately read Chinese?  How do you know that every Chinese person in the world isn't laughing their ass off at you behind your back?

 

I joke about that with my nephew all the time.  He has a tat that supposedly says 'Gifted' and I always tell him it says 'Conceited'.

I was lucky, I had family documents that had the actual symbol for our name on them, so I knew that it was accurate.  But I agree with you 100% and wouldn't trust what's on the wall.

If the decision is because it makes you unique, it probably doesn't.

I was fortunate enough to be able to draw all my own tats, so I'm 100% positive that I was the first to have these.  Now whether or not someone came by the shop I got mine done at and saw the pictures the artists had taken of the final product and wanted the same thing, I can't control.  But I agree that if you're taking a design from a studio, odds are there has been at least one other person that has done it before you.

Make it personal and meaningful to yourself.  

I couldn't have said it better myself.  Very well put.

[JoshEEE]

But I agree that if you're taking a design from a studio, odds are there has been at least one other person that has done it before you.

Whether you're drawing it yourself, or pulling it out of Microsoft Clip Art, a tattoo is not unique.  You may have drawn the most awesome design, but chances are 100% that someone has a slightly varied interpretation of the exact same design in the exact same place somewhere in the world.

I was thinking I could get a tattoo of an ice cream sundae being held by Darth Maul while he's sitting on a VW Bug.  Of course, I'm sure someone out there has the same damn thing.....probably with a cherry on top.   

[BillCable]

Here's one nobody else has (based on my art):





I was flattered.  I don't like my art enough to get it tattooed on my own body.  But somebody else liked it enough to steal it.   

[name]

my daughter had a hole in her heart surgically repaired when she was six months old.

They patched the hole with a surgical grade of GoreTex.

I wanted to tattoo the Goretex logo on her shoulder, but my wife wouldn't hear of it.

[Morgbug]

 

[Mikey D]

It sounds like you're on the right track, Tracy.  Like others have said, going into a tattoo parlor and picking something off the wall or out of a book really isn't the way to go (although using them for ideas and then letting the artist do something unique is ok, I think).  Getting one isn't an easy decision to make and getting the right one is even tougher.

All of mine mean something to me and that's what makes them special. 

[ruiner]

It would be an expensive, painful and silly way to set up a joke, but I don't think I'd ever get tired of playing that game whenever someone who reads Chinese laughed at my tattoo.

That would be fun, but how often would you get the chance to do it?

[jadesfire]

I see enough of them on people to realize that they don't really phase me one way or the other.  I'll ask people to see some that interest me and roll my eyes at others who seem hell bent to show them off.  My son has two, uglier than hell, but he loves 'em. 

I am way to big of a chicken to do it.  I've had fake ones applied for fun when I have been at a Harley rally (looks cool on certain shirts that have the back cut out) but that's it.  I'm already old and wrinkled so I probably could get one and it'll look the similiar down the road.

[I Am Sith]

You may have drawn the most awesome design, but chances are 100% that someone has a slightly varied interpretation of the exact same design in the exact same place somewhere in the world.
 

I disagree with you, and I'll bet that you'll probably disagree with me.   If it's a slightly varied interpretation then it's not the same.  Both are unique to the bearer because they are what the bearer has assigned their own meaning to.

In my last post, I wasn't trying to imply that my tattoos make me unique.  I was simply stating that my tattoos are my own in both origin and meaning.  If someone has copied them, oh well, I can't control that.  I was also agreeing with Morgbug's point that if you are doing this simply because you THINK that having a tattoo is going to make you unique, and you pick one off the wall, chances are it won't be.

[Dr. Zoltar]

I don't have one and don't think I'll ever get one for many of the reasons already listed (I don't like anything enough to have it permanently on me, blood donations, etc.).  If people want one, that's great.  But my advice is:

1)  Put it some place that it CAN be covered in public.  For some job interviews you don't want it showing.  Conversely, if it is showing some place obvious (face, hand, etc.) and you apply for a conservative or public facing job, you make not get hired or you make be asked to keep it covered.
2)  Get it touched up every few years.  Nothing looks worse than a tatoo that is all faded.
3)  Don't put it some place where the skin might sag (i.e. breast).  Trust me.  I saw a woman the other week with a butterfly tatooed on her upper breast and it didn't look good.
4)  For those of you who are religiously inclined, some religions will not allow you to be buried in a certain cemetary if you have tatoos (Jewish).  So make sure you don't plan to convert anytime soon.

[Matt]

For those of you who are religiously inclined, some religions will not allow you to be buried in a certain cemetary if you have tatoos (Jewish).  So make sure you don't plan to convert anytime soon.

Nah--you just have to make friends with the gravedigger.

[john todd]

1)  Put it some place that it CAN be covered in public.  For some job interviews you don't want it showing. 

also, if you must have something written on your neck.  please have it be done in a legible font.  i hate having to squint and stare to try to figure out what someone's neck tattoo says.