Monday, January 26, 2009

Tattoo, anyone?



We could fill a book with all the dumb things we’ve done growing up. Yet, no matter how many dumb things we did, none can compare to a lifelong reminder of our idiocy, which comes in the form of a bad tattoo. From an old girlfriend’s name to a cartoon character to barbed wire wrapped around an arm.

It used to be mens' domain, but now more and more women are joining the tattoo bandwagon. Am I seeing Amy cringe? Yeah, Tracey she did make a good effort keeping her tattoo from mom and dad. Ha ha ha.

So ok, I have seen some guy’s with tattoo that look good on them, but generally, I don’t understand why people are painting their body. I do understand however, that these tattoos speak about the person’s personality.



I have seen macho men with a super hero tattoos. Sure, Batman is a badass, Spiderman is cool and Superman is awesome. Also the emblems emblazoned on their chest represent heroic greatness in their stories, but when tattooed on someone, they just represent that person’s geekiness.

And that idea of getting a mythical animal - whether it’s a giant, an elf, sprite or unicorn is as outlandish as the myths from which they originate.

I also saw men with an anchor. Do they captain a sea-trawling vessel? Live in a battleship? Sail the high seas as a pirate? Unless they have a girlfriend named Olive and an addiction to spinach, then they should leave the anchor tattoo to true sailors and start thinking about other options for themselves.



I noticed too that it seems everybody has a Chinese symbol tattoo. And when asked, they say it represents peace, strength, compassion, or other pseudo-spiritual theme. But I am certain that most would admit they can’t verify if that’s indeed what their tattoo means. For all they know it could say “kick me.”

There are also those who think Bob Marley is god and Al Pacino’s Scarface is cool. Some have a soft spot for Elvis, so they immortalize them with a tattoo. It sounds reasonable, yeah. But beware. Their strong real-life face in photographs can quickly turn into a cartoon in someone’s arm. And with a botched illustration, they simply reduced these people to a caricature – for life.



Still others have a pop-culture mentality. Some funny lines struck them and they like to get a laugh from their buddies, so they decided to print it across their shoulder blades. But what if this joke fades? They will be stuck with an expression from an era they are about to outgrow. And I can say the same with those Looney Tunes characters.



But what really appalled me is a tattoo on a person’s face. I think that’s ok if one is planning to join a freak show or have figured out that he can make a living off it. But if your not Maori or anyone working outside a tattoo shop or carnival, should avoid a face tattoo at all cost.

I can tolerate it if my sons come home with a red or even green hair color…but please, not a tattoo!

11 comments:

Sid Brechin said...

I know of a group of guys who had a visit by some friends from Japan. Before the friends left the wrote Everyone's names in Katakana one of the Japanese writing systems and the one used for Foregin names. The guys decided to have the names tattooed on.
About a year later at the beach one of them was always being called Larry by some japanese girls at the beach. After a while he asked why. They said your tattoo says Larry. It turned out somehow between when given the names on paper and the tattoo parlor the group had gotten all the names mixed up. Each of them was wearing one of the other's names.

Niel said...

"...anyone working outside a tattoo shop or carnival should avoid a face tattoo at all cost."

I remember my beloved mother while we were watching Jesica Soho's show featuring this same topic. She had the same reaction.

With a practice that could be dated way back prehistoric times, this is something we really can't just take at face-value. Some cultures consider it as part of a tradition and religion. Just like the Maori's moko (facial markings), it signifies the person's status in the society.

Although I never want a tattoo for myself, I find the practice interesting.

I remember another story of a Pinoy student in Canada scolded by a school official on his eating habits using a spoon and fork. It's miles away from the tattoo story but can still be placed under one umbrella called tolerance.

Odette Bautista Mikolai said...

Neil,
Thanks for the comment, and yeah your right about Maori's so i added it there.

And with regards to spoon and fork i have explained it in my food blog. We eat with these utensils as we cannot use a fork in rice floating with fish sauce, can we?

Tracey said...

Don't like tattoos, never have, never will!!!! Not even Amy's.
Love Tracey xxx

Unknown said...

I may have to show you my tattoos at some point. I believe they are all quite symbolic... Phil x

bubble said...

Yes Amy did cringe!! i do only have them on my thighs... i don't like to see them anywhere else on a woman and only sensible ones on men, Stevens are nice, he has got one on each arm but they are not big.
My mum is totally against them..... thats why i hid them haha!!
Love Amy xxx

Tracey said...

Hi Odette, I have a "Lemonade award" for you, please come and get it!
Love Tracey xxx

Angry American said...

Let's see...I was a Taz tat, a lion tat (I'm a leo) a yin/yang tat, a chinese monkey tat with matching ideograph (born in the yeah or the monkey of course) other chinese ideographs and and and...

Ms. Moon said...

Oh- just wait until one of your kids comes home with a tattoo. You will learn to live with it. Believe me, there is no other choice.
Some people just seem to be drawn to being inked. I do not know why, but it seems to be a very human desire.

Anonymous said...

i tried a cute buterfly fake tattoo on my back shoulder..kind of cute but i will never put a permanent stain on my skin

Odette Bautista Mikolai said...

phil, amna. angry american, ms moon:
it isnt that tats look gross, some cute ones do look cool. i only hate the thought of putting on a bad tattoo and then regretting it - for life!

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin