"Inferior Goods?"

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60529/high/bmepb274840.jpg

This is definitely a very interesting selection for a lower back tattoo.

If the last character is a botched 貨, then the phrase would be 不芸貨, or "inferior goods".

"CT"

Reader with the initials “CT” writes,

Hi,

I came across your blog through Google. Yes, shamefully, I did it. Many years ago, I had my "initials" put on the back of my neck.

Now, I know the alphabet does not exist. If given a picture, could you tell me what it says?

I have tried many resources, and no one seems to be willing to help me out.

I am glad “CT” understood the fact that there is no such thing as the direct correlation between English alphabet and Chinese characters.

I was also surprised to find out 安 commonly used as “peaceful” and “tranquil”, could also mean “cheap” in Japanese, as in

安 【やす】 (pref) cheap; ED

Lucky Dog Dead Drunk

I do not know whether if the rotated placement of these characters were intentional or not, but the four characters 狗吉死醉 are loosely translated as “lucky, dog, dead, drunk”.


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60515/high/bmegl269263.jpg

I should also mention that the character 酔 in the tattoo is a Japanese simplified kanji from 醉.

The illustrations of moon, sun, star, and cloud reminded me of the music video of Smashing Pumpkin’s song – Tonight, Tonight.

Prostitute Jewelry by DragonWeave

Reader Lori W. has sent me a jewelry website called DragonWeave. I was surprised to find this showcased in their Japanese/Chinese section:


http://www.dragonweave.com/chinese-japanese-symbol-charms-g.html

The character shown 妓 does not mean "geisha" when it is just by itself alone.

妓 means "prostitute".

In Japanese and Chinese, "geisha" was originally referred to as 芸妓 and 艺妓. As in any language, the character 妓 has changed its meaning over the years. This is similar to how the English word "gay" has changed its meaning over the last several decades.

Today, 芸者 is used to represent "geisha", which means "person of the [performing] arts" or "art person".

In modern English, the term "geisha" does carry connotations of prostitution. This relates to the American occupation of Japan after World War II, when some young women, desperate for money and calling themselves "geisha," sold sexual favors to American troops.

The confusion between the geisha profession and prostitution has been complicated by Japanese prostitutes, particularly at onsen (hot spring), who wish to co-opt the prestige of the geisha image by marketing themselves to tourists (both Japanese and non-Japanese) as "geisha," and by depictions of geisha in Western popular culture, such as the novel and film Memoirs of a Geisha.

Cloudy

I have seen tattooists sometimes would add extra parts to Chinese character tattoo, in order to give it a little more “flair”, and have failed miserably.

For example, in this photo sent in by NDC of his friend’s new tattoo:



The poor chump was told this character meant "vengeance". If the intended character was 魁 (head, chief), then the cloud has completely covered the two important dots. Thus, the character is meaningless.

There is an old Chinese idiom called 畫蛇添足. Literally, it means “draw a snake and add feet to it”, or “to do something unnecessary”.