Mr X
December 10, 2013 9:28 PM Subscribe
This is great and I love it. But it brings to mind a story.
While I was getting part of my (still incomplete) sleeve done a friend of mine came back from a few years in Japan. We didn't have a lot of time to spare so he came and hung out with me at the shop while I was getting some work done so we could at least shoot the shit for a couple of hours. I remember he got a kick out of reading USA Today, of all things, and spent the majority of the time pawing through goofball US newspapers and shaking his head. And if I'm lucky enough to be permitted to speak at his wedding reception this is the story I'm going to tell.
I'm getting scraped on (that's what it feels like close to your elbow) when this guy in an incredibly cheap suit and incredibly expensive sunglasses. He does not take off upon entering the shop, walks to my artist's station (since it's the one closest to he door) and asks, "Do you do kanji tattoos?" While she's working (on me) he asks this. I don't know how much you know about tattoo shop etiquette, but this is almost mind-bogglingly rude. A newbie could be forgiven this single screw up, but that's not what happens. He goes on. My artist just yells "FLASH'S ON THE WALL" and (lucky for me) doesn't look up from her work.
"Can you do Samurai?" Cheap Suit asks.
"FLASH'S ON THE WALL" my astoundingly patient artist yells, and this is the point where my buddy puts down his USA Today.
"I have to ask, do you mean the characters for 'samurai' or the characters for 'bushi'?"
"Oh, I want samurai."
My friend nodded and left it at that. Even watched the guy set an appointment. After the chucklehead left and I had saran wrap on my arm my friend explained that, due to the Japanese feudal system, the word for "samurai" would look to a Mandarin or Cantonese speaker more like "servant" or "slave." Where "bushi," while not exactly what he was going for would translate better to "warrior" without a lot of that cross linguistic garbage.
I have no idea what happened to Cheap Suit, he may have gotten his literal Samurai tattoo.
But the moral is never get a tattoo in a language you can't both speak and read. Because if the people who see you making a mistake decide it would be funny to watch you make a mistake there is no one to stop them.
We'll tell jokes about it
posted by Doublewhiskeycokenoice at 11:49 PM on December 10, 2013 [7 favorites]
While I was getting part of my (still incomplete) sleeve done a friend of mine came back from a few years in Japan. We didn't have a lot of time to spare so he came and hung out with me at the shop while I was getting some work done so we could at least shoot the shit for a couple of hours. I remember he got a kick out of reading USA Today, of all things, and spent the majority of the time pawing through goofball US newspapers and shaking his head. And if I'm lucky enough to be permitted to speak at his wedding reception this is the story I'm going to tell.
I'm getting scraped on (that's what it feels like close to your elbow) when this guy in an incredibly cheap suit and incredibly expensive sunglasses. He does not take off upon entering the shop, walks to my artist's station (since it's the one closest to he door) and asks, "Do you do kanji tattoos?" While she's working (on me) he asks this. I don't know how much you know about tattoo shop etiquette, but this is almost mind-bogglingly rude. A newbie could be forgiven this single screw up, but that's not what happens. He goes on. My artist just yells "FLASH'S ON THE WALL" and (lucky for me) doesn't look up from her work.
"Can you do Samurai?" Cheap Suit asks.
"FLASH'S ON THE WALL" my astoundingly patient artist yells, and this is the point where my buddy puts down his USA Today.
"I have to ask, do you mean the characters for 'samurai' or the characters for 'bushi'?"
"Oh, I want samurai."
My friend nodded and left it at that. Even watched the guy set an appointment. After the chucklehead left and I had saran wrap on my arm my friend explained that, due to the Japanese feudal system, the word for "samurai" would look to a Mandarin or Cantonese speaker more like "servant" or "slave." Where "bushi," while not exactly what he was going for would translate better to "warrior" without a lot of that cross linguistic garbage.
I have no idea what happened to Cheap Suit, he may have gotten his literal Samurai tattoo.
But the moral is never get a tattoo in a language you can't both speak and read. Because if the people who see you making a mistake decide it would be funny to watch you make a mistake there is no one to stop them.
We'll tell jokes about it
posted by Doublewhiskeycokenoice at 11:49 PM on December 10, 2013 [7 favorites]
I should get a squiggle tattooed on my forehead.
posted by panaceanot at 2:48 AM on December 11, 2013
When I was getting mine recently (to be colored in this weekend!) I was pretty keenly aware of how the tattoo really isn't going to be on me forever. I guess what a pretty interesting branch of psychology calls 'mortality salient.' The med student who eventually gets to really know me in the most intimate way conceivable will certainly speak the visual language its written in, and I'd bet will even appreciate it, but they will have other concerns as they disassemble me before the whole business gets either cremated or disposed of as medical waste - destroying it in a way that really is forever. What really strikes me about tattoos isn't so much their permanence as their profound impermanence, displaying their message across a precisely human time scale.
Maybe it says something about my disposition, but I found this deeply comforting while I was stretched out on the back of a chair. I didn't need to worry about a making a design that would ring true forever, just one that would never ring false for the strangely relative amount of time while I still needed my skin. The idea of tattooing as something that simply scratches away the surface to openly display whats really under you, rather than keep it hidden, appeals to me. We do this constantly with other kinds of choices we make in life, almost especially the small ones that don't really affect us, and it almost seems strange not to take advantage of our ability to do it conspicuously with our skin.
I ended up choosing something that dooms me to constantly explaining what the heck it is for the rest of my life, is it a spider? A lunar lander? Is that poop coming out of it? Please tell me its not rotting food? But that is ok, and hell, almost the point. As an academic I make my living figuring out difficult concepts within the narrow discipline I study, ideally a few of which no one has figured out before, and then explaining them to people - often but not always in structured and formalized ways. I guess that is what is beneath the surface. I was also lucky to have Mikołaj Włodarczyk of Brussels, an artist whose aesthetic sense I could appreciate and trust, to design it with. Tattooing really is a deeply intimate thing to do with someone, as you find the kernel and the nut, and then scratch the surface together.
posted by Blasdelb at 2:51 AM on December 11, 2013 [20 favorites]
Maybe it says something about my disposition, but I found this deeply comforting while I was stretched out on the back of a chair. I didn't need to worry about a making a design that would ring true forever, just one that would never ring false for the strangely relative amount of time while I still needed my skin. The idea of tattooing as something that simply scratches away the surface to openly display whats really under you, rather than keep it hidden, appeals to me. We do this constantly with other kinds of choices we make in life, almost especially the small ones that don't really affect us, and it almost seems strange not to take advantage of our ability to do it conspicuously with our skin.
I ended up choosing something that dooms me to constantly explaining what the heck it is for the rest of my life, is it a spider? A lunar lander? Is that poop coming out of it? Please tell me its not rotting food? But that is ok, and hell, almost the point. As an academic I make my living figuring out difficult concepts within the narrow discipline I study, ideally a few of which no one has figured out before, and then explaining them to people - often but not always in structured and formalized ways. I guess that is what is beneath the surface. I was also lucky to have Mikołaj Włodarczyk of Brussels, an artist whose aesthetic sense I could appreciate and trust, to design it with. Tattooing really is a deeply intimate thing to do with someone, as you find the kernel and the nut, and then scratch the surface together.
posted by Blasdelb at 2:51 AM on December 11, 2013 [20 favorites]
Lovely stuff, thanks.
Coincidentally, I'm currently involved in the creation of a book called Why I Love Tattoos, due for release some time next year. It's been fascinating to hear the stories people tell about their tattoos, why they got them, and what they signify.
It seems like there's something about the process of getting a tattoo that sharpens your sense of self, and connects you at a physical level to what's really important to you. There's some incredibly beautiful work out there.
Haven't got any tattoos myself, though.
Not yet...
posted by ZipRibbons at 3:06 AM on December 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
Coincidentally, I'm currently involved in the creation of a book called Why I Love Tattoos, due for release some time next year. It's been fascinating to hear the stories people tell about their tattoos, why they got them, and what they signify.
It seems like there's something about the process of getting a tattoo that sharpens your sense of self, and connects you at a physical level to what's really important to you. There's some incredibly beautiful work out there.
Haven't got any tattoos myself, though.
Not yet...
posted by ZipRibbons at 3:06 AM on December 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
This is super, thanks.
I have six. THe first time I spent any time socially with my now-husband, he was trying to impress me by telling me how much he hated the show Les Miserables. I asked him if he wanted to see my Les Miserables tattoo. It was a very unlikely starting point for us, but almost six years later, I can still feel the exact emotion again, wanting him to know more about me through my tattoo choices.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:40 AM on December 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
I have six. THe first time I spent any time socially with my now-husband, he was trying to impress me by telling me how much he hated the show Les Miserables. I asked him if he wanted to see my Les Miserables tattoo. It was a very unlikely starting point for us, but almost six years later, I can still feel the exact emotion again, wanting him to know more about me through my tattoo choices.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:40 AM on December 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
I just realized that bad tattoos interest me as much as good ones. I was about to make a joke about Mr. Samurai/Slave, and another story of a guy who gets tattoos on a whim, but their tattoos are also illustrating who they are. There might be a lack of "serious depth" to getting a cartoon miner on your calf, but you were a real miner for a while, so it has meaning to you. You won't be a miner forever, but today you are, and today you're getting that tat.
posted by filthy light thief at 5:18 AM on December 11, 2013
posted by filthy light thief at 5:18 AM on December 11, 2013
I just realized that bad tattoos interest me as much as good ones.
For me as well. In the film, visually I liked the tattoos on his back much more than his front, but I'd guess that the hodgepodge of tattoos on his front are where more of the stories are.
That said, I do wish there was a successful program to raise the level of the average tattoo artist's technical skills -- it's not the artist's fault that a person wants a cheesy, ill-conceived tattoo, but even the ugliest tattoo should be well-done. I see a lot of just plain poorly done tattoos, and if you live in a place for a while you can even start spotting specific artists' badly-done signature styles. It's a free market and people are free to get a poorly done tattoo I guess, but it still makes me wince.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:08 AM on December 11, 2013
For me as well. In the film, visually I liked the tattoos on his back much more than his front, but I'd guess that the hodgepodge of tattoos on his front are where more of the stories are.
That said, I do wish there was a successful program to raise the level of the average tattoo artist's technical skills -- it's not the artist's fault that a person wants a cheesy, ill-conceived tattoo, but even the ugliest tattoo should be well-done. I see a lot of just plain poorly done tattoos, and if you live in a place for a while you can even start spotting specific artists' badly-done signature styles. It's a free market and people are free to get a poorly done tattoo I guess, but it still makes me wince.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:08 AM on December 11, 2013
So then check out : Worst Tattoo Ever and WTF Tattoos. I'll likely get a tattoo eventually, but not sure what yet. :)
posted by jeffburdges at 6:19 AM on December 11, 2013
posted by jeffburdges at 6:19 AM on December 11, 2013
I am heavily tattooed. After 30+ years of severe body shame, the parts of my body I love the most are the ones that I have inked. If I had unlimited resources, one of the things I would most certainly do first is cover most of my body in beautiful tattoos.
posted by Sophie1 at 6:36 AM on December 11, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 6:36 AM on December 11, 2013 [3 favorites]
I don't have any tattoos, though I keep thinking about it. Too indecisive, I suppose. (Or maybe not.)
I kind of wanted an "invisible" UV tattoo because I feel like a lot about my life is hidden... but apparently they're not really invisible.
I don't quite get the tattoo "addiction" thing. I have more than one friend who started with tattoos that have deep personal significance, dedications to lost friends and family, and so forth -- touching and tasteful. Then they added some really beautiful work. ...and then they added some dumb pop culture figures larger than everything else. I know it's not my skin, but to me that just detracts from the previous work.
posted by Foosnark at 7:37 AM on December 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
I kind of wanted an "invisible" UV tattoo because I feel like a lot about my life is hidden... but apparently they're not really invisible.
I don't quite get the tattoo "addiction" thing. I have more than one friend who started with tattoos that have deep personal significance, dedications to lost friends and family, and so forth -- touching and tasteful. Then they added some really beautiful work. ...and then they added some dumb pop culture figures larger than everything else. I know it's not my skin, but to me that just detracts from the previous work.
posted by Foosnark at 7:37 AM on December 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
I have one tattoo. It's a pair of dragon wings. Each stretches from my shoulderblade to midway down my forearm; they move with me. They're filled with abstracted nebulae and circuit traces.
I spent about five years developing the image, in fits and starts. And a year and a half getting it tattooed onto me, and more money than I care to add up. It's not quite done; I have two or three more sessions left, in which we'll imbue it with ink that glows under UV light, lighting up the circuits and revealing hidden eyes.
I could go on and on about what it means to me; suffice it to say that it has multiple layers of meaning, some public, some private, and leave it at that.
I should really get a good photo taken of them, now that they're done. All I can find online right now is a shot of them when they were only beginning to take shape and a photo of the line art I gave to the tattooist.
posted by egypturnash at 7:50 AM on December 11, 2013 [3 favorites]
I spent about five years developing the image, in fits and starts. And a year and a half getting it tattooed onto me, and more money than I care to add up. It's not quite done; I have two or three more sessions left, in which we'll imbue it with ink that glows under UV light, lighting up the circuits and revealing hidden eyes.
I could go on and on about what it means to me; suffice it to say that it has multiple layers of meaning, some public, some private, and leave it at that.
I should really get a good photo taken of them, now that they're done. All I can find online right now is a shot of them when they were only beginning to take shape and a photo of the line art I gave to the tattooist.
posted by egypturnash at 7:50 AM on December 11, 2013 [3 favorites]
I have two tattoos, none are particularly meaningful, just marks in time.
I recently 'conquered' trichtotillomania, after 30 years of struggle.
I need a new tattoo.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 8:44 AM on December 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
I recently 'conquered' trichtotillomania, after 30 years of struggle.
I need a new tattoo.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 8:44 AM on December 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
I don't have any tattoos, though I keep thinking about it.
...
I don't quite get the tattoo "addiction" thing.
These two things are directly related. There's a distinct level of empowerment in this level of inviolable expression, be it of a deeply considered soul-truth or a bit of frivolous mirth or an abstract decorative enhancement. People get different ink for different moods, feelings, memories. Getting a silly fun bit of pop ephemera on you doesn't detract from your own memories of fallen family and their dedications, any more than Pynchon writing 'Inherent Vice' made 'Gravity's Rainbow' somehow less heavy.
The biggest thing to remember is - tattoos are for the people getting tattoos, not for rationalization to you the observer. They may share the view with you, but in the end it ain't *about* you.
posted by FatherDagon at 11:16 AM on December 11, 2013
...
I don't quite get the tattoo "addiction" thing.
These two things are directly related. There's a distinct level of empowerment in this level of inviolable expression, be it of a deeply considered soul-truth or a bit of frivolous mirth or an abstract decorative enhancement. People get different ink for different moods, feelings, memories. Getting a silly fun bit of pop ephemera on you doesn't detract from your own memories of fallen family and their dedications, any more than Pynchon writing 'Inherent Vice' made 'Gravity's Rainbow' somehow less heavy.
The biggest thing to remember is - tattoos are for the people getting tattoos, not for rationalization to you the observer. They may share the view with you, but in the end it ain't *about* you.
posted by FatherDagon at 11:16 AM on December 11, 2013
I have a lot of tattoos, and I would love to have so many more. I have loved them since I was a child. My most recent tattoo, which I got as a 35th birthday present to myself, was a reminder that there is no need to take myself too seriously, and also that I am always fantastic. I love all of my tattoos save the 3 that were the first I got, which didn't go through my 6-18 month reflection period and didn't involve a search for the perfect artist for the piece I wanted. What's fascinating is that I frequently forget that I HAVE full sleeves or a big chest tattoo, because it's so ingrained to who I am, that I see them as me, rather than marks on me.
posted by Nimmie Amee at 11:56 AM on December 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Nimmie Amee at 11:56 AM on December 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
I like what he had to say about color vs. black ink. It made me think about my relationship to color vs. black. I've had about 75+ hours of tattoo work and the overwhelming majority of it is color (no black outlines and very minimal black shading). And my tattoos are mostly hidden. Except for the two linguistic symbols on my right and left forearm (which also happen to be MetaFilter [+] and [–] symbols…not a coincidence). They are in solid black. They've unwittingly become little Roschachs—up for individual interpretation I suppose—and so I both love and hate people noticing them (barring linguists and MeFites, whom I love equally and unequivocally). They're difficult tattoos to explain, which is funny because the hidden rest of the lot is fairly self-explanatory. On the surface at least. Heh. People see a mural of colorful flowers and birds and such and they don't really wonder about what it all means. And I find those harder to explain personally. Which is nice that nobody sees or asks. So maybe the black symbols are like my little foils.
I also think it's funny that as my body piece gets finished, my tattoo 'count' goes down. If you count the symbols as 1 tattoo, then my total count is 3. Last year it was 5. Next year I'm hoping to get down to 2 and be done. But I love the process so much that who knows. I may add some more and spend another few years connecting all the meaningful dots again.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:52 PM on December 11, 2013 [6 favorites]
I also think it's funny that as my body piece gets finished, my tattoo 'count' goes down. If you count the symbols as 1 tattoo, then my total count is 3. Last year it was 5. Next year I'm hoping to get down to 2 and be done. But I love the process so much that who knows. I may add some more and spend another few years connecting all the meaningful dots again.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:52 PM on December 11, 2013 [6 favorites]
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
I don't have any tattoos. But my son does...
In 1990 my oldest son, Sean, was killed in a motorcycle accident, at 20 years old, a car pulled out in front of him, he died at the scene. My youngest son, Wes, 18 years old, happened to be coming home at the time, and was stopped by emergency personnel, not allowed to travel down the road because of the investigation going on. The balance of the night, of the day, of the week, was a nightmare for all of us.
Sean, a fan of syfi and fantasy, had recently written a poem about dragons...with the final line being "nobody believes in dragons anymore", a lament for lost fantasies. That line was engraved on his headstone...
A few months later I realized that I hadn't seen Wes without a t-shirt on for some time... I finally asked...
He pulled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a dragon...
I nodded, nothing else needed to be said.
Over the years, Wes has added a number of tattoos, every one of them representing an important event in his life... I've never questioned his choices or motivation..
thanks for the post....
posted by HuronBob at 10:02 PM on December 10, 2013 [63 favorites]