Bad Chinese Tattoos
Longtime LMNOP lurker J-Dogg has forwarded this gem of a site dedicated to exposing tattoos of badly written or meaningless Chinese characters.
The equivalent would be say, someone trying to get the word "MOM" but ending up with "MIM".
Or thinking they are getting fancy calligraphy with all the curlicues and whatnot, but then ending up with something that looks like a D+ effort from a 2nd grade penmanship lesson.
Some are complete nonsense, like the woman who thought she was getting her Grandpa's initials.
The most painful one for me is the guy who tried to get the Chinese for "bad boy". The characters are actually beautifully crafted, and look they could have been copied from a high-quality scroll of calligraphy. The only problem is that the tattooist mixed up the order of two of the three characters, thus rendering the phrase completely meaningless.
Western travellers to China have long been able to laugh at the ridiculous nonsense English phrases that crop up on t-shirts, hats and advertisements. Looks like the tables are turning.
Bottom line: if you decide to get a tattoo in Chinese, double or even triple check the characters. The price of error is high.
The equivalent would be say, someone trying to get the word "MOM" but ending up with "MIM".
Or thinking they are getting fancy calligraphy with all the curlicues and whatnot, but then ending up with something that looks like a D+ effort from a 2nd grade penmanship lesson.
Some are complete nonsense, like the woman who thought she was getting her Grandpa's initials.
The most painful one for me is the guy who tried to get the Chinese for "bad boy". The characters are actually beautifully crafted, and look they could have been copied from a high-quality scroll of calligraphy. The only problem is that the tattooist mixed up the order of two of the three characters, thus rendering the phrase completely meaningless.
Western travellers to China have long been able to laugh at the ridiculous nonsense English phrases that crop up on t-shirts, hats and advertisements. Looks like the tables are turning.
Bottom line: if you decide to get a tattoo in Chinese, double or even triple check the characters. The price of error is high.
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