"Light Painter"

Reader Gordon emails:

"Hi there,

I stumbled across your site looking for some info. I admit to having gotten a tattoo a couple of years back, and like many, I am now concerned that it might not mean what I hope it means. Am I correct in understanding that you're willing to help translate characters correctly for people in my situation? I'd love any info you might provide. Now that I am faced with the proposition of finding out I am not sure I want to know. Having it lasered off doesn't sound too pleasant.

Admittedly this tattoo is a combination of two ideas. The top character meaning "light" or having some inference to light. (not heavenly light, but actual light, though either will work.) The bottom two characters dealing with the idea of "Artist" or "Painter" I realize when placed on atop the other the grouping may mean nothing, or something else entirely, but I've always thought of them as top and bottom both withholding their individual meanings.

Go easy on me! I hope I am not terribly disappointed here. Thanks."

Although the calligraphy is bad, the characters are at least recognizable.

The top character 灯 is the simplified version of 燈, which means "lantern" or "lamp". 画家 (or traditional version 畫家) means "painter/artist", but in the tattoo 家 is missing a top dot.

Ambiguous Design Element

Annoymous emails:

"Hi, I do color separations for silkscreen printing. Lately I have been getting a lot of designs with Hanzi like the one attached. Do they mean anything or are they merely used as an ambiguous design element?"

From my previous email exchange with representatives of apparel companies, these Chinese characters are used randomly as design elements or marketing tools.

永 = long, perpetual, eternal, forever
恕 = forgive, excuse, show mercy
明 = bright, light, brilliant; clear
氣 = air, gas, steam, vapor; spirit
信 = trust, believe; letter
英 = petal, flower, leaf; brave, a hero; England, English

Sydney Morning Herald - Radar Section

http://radar.smh.com.au/archives/2005/06/post_3.html

Reader Sputnik emails:

"Hi Tian, love your site. I discovered it after reading an article in the Sydney Morning Herald. The Hanzi Smatter article was in the Radar section of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper June 15, page 7."

The charming article was written by Erin Biba titled "What your tattoo really says":

Tattooing meaningful words on your body in Chinese characters is hip, but it's a risky business when you don't read or speak Chinese. Just ask contributors to HanziSmatter.com, a weblog dedicated to the misuse of Asian characters, most often in tattoo form.

...

However bad those may seem, Tian put it best when he consoled one victim of tattoo misfortune: "On the good side, it does not say donkey butt."

Thanks to Sputnik, Erin, and Sydney Morning Herald!

July 2005 Issue of Flash Magazine

Sometimes I wonder if anyone in the tattoo community really care about the accuracy of tattoos of Chinese Hanzi and Japanese Kanji characters.

After flipping through a few pages of the July 2005 issue of FLASH magazine,




and I see this:



I don't expect every single tattoo artist to hold Degrees in Asian Language Study, but when you are a major publishing company, please have some decency and do some checking, so the same error will not continue.

Not only the image (I hope it is only the image but not the tattoo) is reversed, the character 愛 (love) is missing a middle dot on the top.

"Talking Dragon Love"

Reader Mikael emails:

"Tian, my cousin just got this tattoo on his chest. He claims that it i’s a pure sound message, but I wanted to check with you, so that he hasn'’t screwed up or anything. He didn'’t want to tell me what the sound message was either, so if you know, please tell me. Best Regards."

Regardless what "sound message" he is trying to express via his tattoo, the last character 愛 (love) is missing a few strokes backwards. Although the top two characters are not the best in terms of calligraphy, at least they are correct.

說 = speak, say, talk; to explain; to illustrate; explanation; directions; caption
龍 = dragon
愛 = love, be fond of, like