Ease of Gas Retention
From Brazil, reader Joao (a long time Japanese student) sent in a photo of this young man proudly displaying his cool tattoo at a party.
Besides the fact the characters are poorly written, the true meaning of the tattoo may not be as what the owner intended.
氣 (air, gas, steam, vapor; spirit), 止 (stop, halt, desist; detain), 康 (peaceful, quiet; happy, healthy), could be interpreted as “ease of gas retention”.
Perhaps this is some kind of viral ad campaign by makers of gas-relief medications?
T-shirts Giveaway sponsored by Hanzismatter and Jlist.com
Besides the fact the characters are poorly written, the true meaning of the tattoo may not be as what the owner intended.
氣 (air, gas, steam, vapor; spirit), 止 (stop, halt, desist; detain), 康 (peaceful, quiet; happy, healthy), could be interpreted as “ease of gas retention”.
Perhaps this is some kind of viral ad campaign by makers of gas-relief medications?
T-shirts Giveaway sponsored by Hanzismatter and Jlist.com
Bad Hanzi in Beijing
Joel Martinsen of Danwei.org has sent me this scan from a newspaper in Beijing.
Although Hanzi Smatter mostly focuses on the misuse of Chinese characters in Western culture, I had to comment about this. Especially the glaring error in the story has embarrassed Beijing City’s Traffic Bureau.
(larger view)
The painted 人行步道 (pedestrian crossing) has an extra dot in 步.
I should also point out that in Japanese, 步 does indeed include the extra dot.
Related: "SOTP" and "SHCOOL"
Update: March 24, 2006 - UN to Stop Using Traditional Chinese Characters after 2008.
T-shirts Giveaway sponsored by Hanzismatter and Jlist.com
Although Hanzi Smatter mostly focuses on the misuse of Chinese characters in Western culture, I had to comment about this. Especially the glaring error in the story has embarrassed Beijing City’s Traffic Bureau.
(larger view)
The painted 人行步道 (pedestrian crossing) has an extra dot in 步.
I should also point out that in Japanese, 步 does indeed include the extra dot.
Related: "SOTP" and "SHCOOL"
Update: March 24, 2006 - UN to Stop Using Traditional Chinese Characters after 2008.
T-shirts Giveaway sponsored by Hanzismatter and Jlist.com
"Wilson"
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60318/high/bmepb238792.jpg
This tattoo is Chinese transliteration of “Uriah Wilson” by Isaac Villarreal in Lytle, Texas.
I personally have never met anyone that is named “Uriah”, only “Uria”, therefore I don’t know if the three characters on the left side are the correct or acceptable translation.
But I have met plenty of “Wilson”, and that second character in 威尔逊 is definitely incorrect. It has been rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
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Downloadable Gibberish Asian Fonts
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New York Times and Tattoo Choices
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"Skin, Hair, Body"
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60307/high/bmepb236775.jpg
This tattoo was shown in March 7th of BMEzine’s kanji gallery without any caption.
The first character 革 (leather, skin) and last character 身 (body) are done correctly. I am having trouble on deciding if the owner wanted 亳 (capitol of Anhui province) or 毫 (hair, milli-) in the center.
As of right now, I think it should be 革毫身, which means “skin, hair, body”.
In a previous post, owner of a 亳 claims she was told it meant “carpe diem”, which is wrong.
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NBA Body Art - Tale of My Chinese Tattoo
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/players/02/28/tattoos0306/index.html
In the upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated, NBA players were interviewed about their Chinese tattoos.
When asked about why tattooing in Chinese, Marcus Camby replied: "I was into a lot of Chinese flicks, a lot of [kung fu] movies."
Jeff McInnis explains: "I got the dictionary and looked mine up. Some people don't know what theirs mean. They just get them because they look good."
What about Shawn Marion?
Update: An article in Chinese about NBA players' tattoos.
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