"Bitter"


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51012/high/bmepb147728.jpg

means "bitter", "hardship", or "suffering".

The three exact emotions this guy is going through right now.


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GQ magazine Nov. 2005 Issue

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Etch a Mac


http://www.etchamac.com/powerbook.php

I would like know why someone would voluntarily pay $35+ ($35 for 3x3, $70 for 4x4 and $100 for 5x5 inches with purchase of a Powerbook) to have “All Rights Reserved” () in Chinese etched on their Apple Powerbook.

Does having Chinese characters etched on the Powerbook would make it any more unique than the next Joe Schmoe’s Powerbook with the exact same Chinese phrase? Also, does the potential customer even know what the phrase really mean? It could easy be "pretentious douche bag", although that would be a much entertaining choice than "All Rights Reserved".

(Disclaimer: I don't think Apple computer users are douche bags)

Couldn’t they come up with some creative or inspiring phrases? I mean there are literally millions of Chinese literatures to choose from.

Here is one suggestion I have: how about just etch the owner’s contact info in case the laptop has been snatched from their local hot spot.

Ps. Thanks to the "cult of mac" for sending it in.


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The Seven Sins




http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51022/high/bmepb151995.jpg

Anyone who has ever read Dante Alighieri’s La divina commedia or The Divine Comedy” (It was a required reading when I was in high school, and trust me, it was not an actual “comedy”) or watched the movie “SE7EN” would know about the Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the Cardinal Sins.

"Superbia" (, Pride), “Invidia” (, Envy), “Ira” ( or , Wrath), “Acedia” ( or , Sloth), “Avaritia” (, Greed), “Gula” ( or , Gluttony), and “Luxuria” (, , or , Lust) are Latin names for the Seven Deadly Sins.

is the simplification of .

After viewing the tattoo above, I would like to add “improvidus” and “ignarus” to the Cardinal Sins list.


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Whole-Hearted Devotion


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51022/high/bmepb152472.jpg

is an old Chinese idiom that meant "in all sincerity", "with one's whole heart", or "whole-hearted devotion".

Ironically, neither the tattooist nor the client has devoted enough effort to make sure the tattoo was done correctly.


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"Colorful Rat"

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Upside Down "Beauty"


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51012/high/bmepb147957.jpg

This young man is proudly displaying his newly done tattoo. Too bad the first character (beauty) is upside down. Perhaps the young should get (superficial) as a cover-up tattoo.


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"Robert"


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51012/high/bmepb149567.jpg

This tattoo is the Chinese phonetic translation of the name “Robert”. It is very poorly done. All characters are disproportional and missing strokes.

Although sometimes the clients are the ones bring in ugly or incorrect designs, I can’t imagine any respectable tattooist would display this in his/her portfolio.


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"Where To?"


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51012/high/bmepb149670.jpg

Due to the tattoo’s poor penmanship, it is very difficult to determine what the client’s original intension was.

The tattooed character could either be (what, why, where, which, how) or (direction).


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Big Mistake

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Dragon and Characters



An U. S. Navy recruiter from Florida has emailed me these photos of tattoos on a new recruit. Since the characters were randomly chosen, therefore I am not going to spend too much trying to decipher what this piece of “skin garbage” really means. But, I am going to point out the incorrectly written characters.

I feel like a medical examiner staring at a badly charred corpse and comparing dental records.



The top character means “black”. It was poorly written but still somewhat recognizable. The second character (tiger) was never finished. It is missing the lower partial . (dragon) is poorly written, but was somewhat recognizable.



(way, path) is also poorly written.



The two character phrase means “martial arts”, but the positioning order has been reversed.


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French Tattoo Flash Mistakes


http://www.tattoo-passion.com/kanji.html

This lovely collage of mistakes is brought to you by a French website called Tattoo-Passion.com.

means "minister", not "Bouddha" (English "Buddha").

means "immortal" or "fairy", not "boxe" (English "boxing", the sport).

or means "cannabis", not the character shown.

means "charm" or "attraction", not "demon".

means "puppet", not "destruction".

means "soldier", not "divorce".

means "evening" or "dusk", not "enfant" (English "child").

means "offspring", not "esprit" (English "spirit").

is written incorrectly and it means "evil spirit". Not to be confused with , which means "worship" or "idolize".

means "emperor", not "football".

means "soul" or "spirit", not "grand pere" (English "grand father").

means "toad" or "clam", not "grenouille" (English "frog").

means "private", not "illegal".

is incorrectly written and it means "jealousy".

means "prick", not "meurtre" (English "murder").

means "ancestory", not "militaire" (English "military").

is incorrectly written and it means "death".

means "buddha", not "paradis" (English "paradise").

The ironic part is the French government is so concerned about their language, it actually dedicates an entire branch an academy on maintaining the purity of French language.


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"Body Cavity"



One young lady's boyfriend emails me this photo and asking what the character really meant. Apparently the young lady was told by the tattooist that the character is Chinese for "magic".

It would be "Magic", if you want to make cocaine filled balloons disappear by stuff them into your body cavity before the DEA agents arrest you at the border.

The character has multiple meanings, and one of them is "body cavity".


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Cannabis Love

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"Mountain Bike"


http://www.oma-sk.tripod.com/Tattoo_-_vaden.jpg

means "bicycle" and 過山單車 means "mountain bike". Perhaps both the client and tattooist had too many concussions resulted from mountain biking accidents.


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Firefly's "Electricity Caution" Sign


http://barneygumble742.tripod.com/firefly_xp.htm

Reader Norman emailed me this screen capture. The second character (electricity) of this caution sign in the show Firefly is mirrored. It is also interesting to point out that in the future, spaceships will run on Microsoft Windows and don't lose those device driver disks.

Update: I saw the movie Serenity last night. Although there were some Chinese inconsistencies throughout the movie, overall it was very good. I have to say it was definitely one of the few good Sci-Fi movies that I have enjoyed in long time.