Lost in Translation: What those cool Japanese tattoos really say.
This reminds me of a story.
Back in the eighth grade, my friends sister got a tattoo. As the rebel in the family, this was to be expected. (Then again, we were all a bunch of God-fearing Christians back then, so getting a tattoo was the equivalent of fucking the football team with a heroin needle stuck in your jugular vein.)
“Wanna see my tattoo?” she asks. She turns around and lifts the back of her tank top. Smack dab in the middle of her back, there is a Chinese character:
(To see this character in Chinese, you must enable CJK support on your web browser. Otherwise, just click on the numbers for a link to a graphic image of the character.)
Ernie: Why does your tattoo say “vegetable?”
Tattoo girl: It does not say “vegetable.” It says “love.”
Ernie: No, it says “vegetable.” It looks kind of like the character for love, but it says “vegetable.”
Tattoo girl: ohmygod I’m going to throw up
In hindsight, it turns out that the tattoo on the girls back was the simplied version of “love” and not the character I was used to seeing. Nonetheless, the look on her face was one that I will cherish forever. It also makes for an easy joke at parties:
Frat boy: Duuuude! I just got my fuckin’ tat, man. It took four hours and hurt like a bitch, but it’s fuckin’ SWEET! It means “STRENGTH,” man! Checkit!
Ernie: Uhm, it says “herpes.”
Fantastic story.
I have started a blog in beginning of 2004 October to keep track of the misuse of Chinese/Japanese characters in Western culture. Feel free to take a peak:
Hanzi Smatter
My Indian friend sees the term ‘wanker’ as integral to his identity, so had the appropriate Chinese characters tattooed on his shoulderblade. Problem is, he got them from one of those microscopic pocket dictionaries, so when he photocopied and enlarged them, they became one mass on the page. He was none the wiser, neither was the artist who copied the characters verbatim. IT looks like someone carelessly splooged it across its skin. Which adds to the meaning, I suppose