Been noticing that a lot of people have tattoos nowadays. Some I understand � some I don't.

Some are clearly tribal or cultural. Some are where the bearer can't see 'em to admire 'em himself, even in private, without a mirror or two.

But by far the most emphatic impression is that tattoos seem to be the only life-time commitment that today's youth take-on readily!

Everything else seems to be This for today, something else for tomorrow.

Just can't figure that out.

I think the youth want to stand out from the crowd that they act on impulse and pick tats that they will change or have surgery to remove.

I have my blood type and another tattoo on my left forearm, and I feel quite comfortable with that.
If someone else wants to get a tattoo/s then I believe it is none of my business as to their motivation.

Tattoos are simply a permanent remider of a temporary time in your life.

Sounds spiffy and oh so snazzy...but it is bullsh!t.

What amazes me is the amount of "ink" the "homeless women" panhandling at the freeway off ramps show.

One can go in several different directions with that observation:
-They might be hookers working a day-job
-They might regret the inability to take "ink" to a pawn shop and hock it (as opposed to wearable jewelry)
-They might be "homeless" due to the lack of employability that goes with looking like a puked-on carpet outside a bar-room toilet.

Maybe they need a little bit of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aX5zuoT7cU

These threads are always entertaining..

This is probably true for many of todays young people, but I know many that don't fit this mold at all. They are hard working, highly educated, and thinking not only of their future but their country's. Some have tattoos, some don't, some I don't know if they do or not.

I think trying to analyze the what, where or why of a tattoo is not anybody's business. And no, I do not have one or care why others do or don't.



Yep.

If someone has a visible tat they're saying, look at me. If they can't handle someone making a facial expression that suggests disdain, it's their problem. Many tats are actually pretty decent body art. Quite a few are pretty obnoxious messages. The garden variety are often pretty poor art and probably not worth the money paid.

When I see tats on people's faces, I know I'm dealing with a moron who may have violent anti-social tendencies.

and one more yep.

This is the first real good reason I've read for a tattoo....there may be others as well.

I have never met a person with tattoos who did not wish, later in life sometimes much later, that they did not have them. I suppose there are some I just never have met them.

I do notice that a lot of men and women who don't seem to be able to support themselves and/or their offspring in a reasonable manner somehow find the money for tattoos. Not saying that applies to everyone who has tattoos, just that it seems to be a very prevalent thing among the aforementioned crowd.

DO you lot realise that if you substitute "firearm" for "tattoo", you could all be anti-firearm nuts pointing the finger and casting aspersions...?

It is how they do it.

I was thinking about getting one once, nearly had it picked out.

Then I was crispy fried while firefighting and took 2nd and 3rd degree burns on both my upper arms.

Figured it was karma saying, "Here's your tattoo."

Tyson says GFY

Yuh just met one Boggy

I've read that Hitler was fond of tattoos, well, for Jews that is.

I read that he also had lamp shades made from tattooed skin.

I have a few myself. A couple I regret, a couple I don't.
I can tell you for sure though that the ones I regret were alcohol related.

If it's flaunted in public (and those that I see ARE!), then being intrigued by it is my right.

So also is having an opinion about it my right.

Being curious about it doesn't automatically mean judging it.

Anyone who's flaunting a tat in public must be ready to bear disapproval as well as approval.

Being open-minded doesn't require having a hole in your head.

I judge beer guts and fat asses long before I do tattoos.

Tyson's tat is restrained, graceful, not at all offensive, on a face that can stand some improvement (like mine or 'most anybody's).

Doesn't bother me, but I still wonder why.

think the wife and I are finally going to get tattoos,

not going to try and keep up with our daughter, who sports more ink than I'd like although all the stuff she has, has been professionally done.


we're just going to have wedding bands tattooed upon our ring fingers

haven't worn a ring since I dang near lost my finger from my wedding ring within 6 mos of putting it on, it's all bent up anyway.


she was talking bout getting the infinity symbol and something else, don't remember what


mine's just going to be an inscription that encircles my finger, something romantic like

"got a hottie pregnant and now she's turned into this ball and chain"


yeah I know I'm a poet and a romantic at heart!

Not really, O neg covers most anyway...and besides, the left arm is probably the bit they won't find as that is the way the world works.

Tattoos are just markings...like a book, which gives the reader an opportunity for interpretation. The only fast rule is that a tat, which was done voluntarily, is an effort to tell people somebody something important. The message received is often not that which is intended.

There was a guy in Hong Kong in the 'fifties who's specialty was a tattoo of two pigs screwing, with "True Love" inscribed under the picture.

Then, later on, a customer could go back, and - for three times the money - he would turn the pigs screwing into a rose.

So..... if you see an old guy with a rose and "True Love" under it........... look closer.

Blood type � now, that's a down-right practical use that I hadn't thought of, especially for people with certain occupations!

My buddy's wife has pale lips and no eyebrows except those that she had a tattooer improve and provide. Now those are practical! If I hadn't been told, I'd've never noticed!

That could easily be misunderstood.

Not sure I get how pale lips and eyebrow enhancement is any different than a tat. Both give you something that God did not provide.

Not that I mind tats actually. But seems like the pot calling the kettle black.

I"m just glad my wife is as intended mostly... doesn't use much makeup, maybe a bit of face powder and thats it. No eye stuff, no lipstick and so on. Just almost as issued so to speka.

I have no problems with tats. If they are reasonable, and have significant meaning for the owner. I have ann ex BIL who survived 2 trips to the middle east. He had the USMC symbol tattooed on his upper arm. HE EARNED the right IMHO. My son and his wife had he GPS coordinates of the church they were married in tattoed on them on the 1st anniversary. Would have been OK if she hadn't walked out on him 6 months later.

What I don't understand is the "artwork". Most of it has no meaning, it is just an attempt at art and usually looks like crap. Both of my kids, 28, and 24 have several. I had no problems with the 1st, or even the 2nd, but it seems to be addictive. They both can't seem to stop.

I Have a "death" tribal that covers from my the point of my upper arm down to my "t-shirt" line. It represents my Father, my 2 grandfathers and one grandmothers deaths as they are all intertwined with each other, then there are 2 single "wing lines" that are friends I lost both of whom were lost in combat.

I have no issue with tattoo's or people with them. It may be the fact that I have a few. the ones that I get the most comments on are my calves, which have my son's name and birthdate surrounding their footprints off their birth certificates. Took a hell of an artist to make them look so good. Next up is a sleeve on my right arm for the 8 brothers in arms that I lost in Iraq. I get them for me, not for anyone else.

LOL
Yea,,,, I guess I should have said,
I have a few "tattoos" myself etc etc.

Babe had a portrait of John Lennon tattooed on the inside of one upper thigh, and a portrait of Marty Robbins on the inside of the other upper thigh.

From her angle, she couldn't tell how realistic they looked, so she asked a drunk, who was waiting to be tattooed, to critique 'em for her.

"I can't tell (hic!) who that guy's s'posed t'be, 'n'I (hic!) can't tell who that guy's s'posed t'be. But that guy in the middle is def'nitely Willie Nelson!

+1

This is one of the very few mistakes I didn't make when I was "young, dumb, and full of cum" as an old man once called me.

I don't think badly of people who have tattoos, and consider it their business not mine.

Nothing looks classier on a 65 year old woman than a saggy lower back tatoo. I am sure it seemed like a good idea at the time though.

Pithy and very true.

Never had a problem with the guy with a tattoo on his arm, or the girl with a little butterfly somewhere. However, the new fashion is to have large and numerous tattoos to which I have a visceral negative reaction that I don�t understand. It is a blind, mindless reaction that comes from some primeval part of me that says the person is sub-human. I suspect this reaction is similar to the way bigots react to people of color, homophobes react to gays, ets.

Because he's a bonafide stupidazzz.

It cracks me up every time I look at it....

I got my first and only at 38, it's a flint-knapped arrowhead with deer tracks running across it. It has the initials of my two sons across the top in script. It's for me, I don't really care what anybody else thinks about it. I do not regret it in any way, shape, or form. As long as I have at least a short sleeve shirt on nobody can see it anyway.

Everybody needs to do stupid things in their youth, that's how you learn the difference between stupidity and wisdom later in life.

No one is made wise by the mistakes of others.



Gonna be a LOT of really wise people in 20 years...

While I can't explain all tattoos, I can explain part of that cultural phenomenon with teens, especially the girls. It goes like this:

Teen gets tattoo. Teen then shows it to everyone she knows, which at school is about 200 other teens. For two weeks, they are the center of attention.

"See my new tattoo?"

"Oh, that's SOOO cute!!!!!"

Repeat above scenario 200 times. Teen loves the attention. After the whole world has seen the tattoo, the attention dies down. Teen craves the attention, figures another tattoo will renew his/her place at the center of the social universe.

Meanwhile, other teens seeing their friend become this weeks hot teen local celeb contemplate getting a tattoo so they can become next weeks center of attention.

Good analysis of teenage girls' thinking.

My Neice was in a pretty bad accident a few years ago, and her system shut down enough to kill her Pancreas. After her near death hospital stay she was able to get an insulin pump system installed, pretty cool but it does have an external controller that is a daily reminder of that accident.


Several months ago we were at her parents home and there was some commotion as she walked around showing everyone her new Tat, when she got to me I almost touched it as it looked like a Kid's rub on stencil. Luckily she retracted her arm soon enough and I realized, that brilliant blue shield was a Tat, not a rub-on.

I am not thrilled by the sight of Tatoo's, intrigued but I guess I am too old school th appreciate most Tat's I have seen. But, I have seen people drive cars in colors I am not fond of and think less of the owners taste than someone who puts art on their body.


Allen

I heard a new name for the "tramp stamp" last week... The "Panama City License plate"... Laughed out loud at that one...

Some people are just stupid....

I am not a fan of tattoos. I do respect the rights of anyone who wans to get one (or more), so long as they respect my right not to look favorably at them for their decision. When I see a young lady with tattoos on what would otherwise be beautiful skin, I wonder why she made that decision.

The interesting thing about tattoos is that, 25 or so years ago, folks got tattoos to be different. Now they get them because everyone else has them. I've asked a number of people whether they would have gotten their tattoo if no one else around them had one; the answer is usually "Probably not".

I'm wonder what they will all look like in 25 or 30 years.

You have a visceral reaction because someone with large and numerous tattoos is broadcasting a message. You don't like the message. That message can be any or all of the following:

- I have absolutely no respect for my body

- I hate my parents

- I hate society, probably because I've never fit in anywhere, and now I can fit in with other freaks in the same boat.

- I'm a non conformist, and I hate your world and your society. This is my way of giving all of the establishment the finger.

- I want to advertise that I'm I'm into to sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but not into responsibility. I call it "body art" because I don't want to dwell on reality that this is all self abuse and self mutilation.

- If my emotions start to run to the extreme, after tattoos, I will pierce everything. that will piss you off more and make you uncomfortable around me. I like when people are uncomfortable around me because it gives me a sense of power.

There are a lot of good reasons not to. Like future job interviews. Saying things that you change your mind about.

There are a few good reasons to. I like the idea of tattooing blood type. That isn't going to change. I think doing the wedding ring is awesome ... gold you just take off if things go wrong. Tattooing that sucker on seems like a higher level of commitment.

Tom

Once again we agree on something.

I have a cape buffalo and a leopard on my back. When I whack an ele, lion, and rhino I'll get those on there, too.

Permanent reminders of permanent experiences.

My favorite tat (not me) is the bald headed guy with a face tattooed on the back of his head.

Later today, after my soon approaching Dr. Appointment, I will post photos of my upper and lower arms. Both arms, upper and forarm's, are tattoo'ed with visual and written depictons of what Christ did on the cross and that we must all come to terms with that event. My reason was to make people think about Christ and the cross and the redemption that is availalble to them even if they do not choose to talk to me about it. Many DO ask me about them and I get to share the good news of the Gospel with them. So, I am saying with my ink "There is a redeemer!" and at the same time you don't have to be a oddly dressed, out of touch, soft speaking wussified twit to be a Christian man. Such is also one of the reasons I try to keep my arms well defined and somewhat muscled.

Comes pretty darn close to nailing it!

Tattoos are usually evidence of peer pressure. From the WW2 Navy guys who had an anchor on their forearm, to the NBA players whose tats are illegible. The tat that isn't evidence of peer pressure is rare.

Not that there's necessarily something inherently wrong with that. Symbols bond people, and people need bonded. There's just something profoundly ironic about the ubiquity of tattoos all saying, "Look at me; I'm unique!" -- when even without a tat every person is unique.

Steve.

You missed ,I was drunk on my azz ,and got double dog dared!!!

I really don't have a problem with tattoos but stupid decisions are just that. There is a guy in town, mid-20's unemployed and his face is tattooed up like a clown. That's just stupid in my mind and unemployable. But what seem even dumber is the people with all the weird piercings, the giant holes in there ear lobes or the spike coming off there chin. I just don't get it. My goal in life is to leave with no more holes than I was born with.

Ah, yes! I forgot about the alcohol inspired tattoos. I will see one of my college buddies this weekend that is a victim of such.

Seems after his divorce some years ago, he hit the dating scene. Went out with a wild chick a few times. After dinner and a whole bunch of drinks one night, she says "let's do something wild. I want a tattoo!"

So they go and do it. My buddy has a freaking 7" tarantula on his right thigh. The chick dumped him not long after that "wild night". My buddy now has a permanent reminder of alcohol induced stupidity.

I like mine. Nobody else has to. Most of you know that when I kill a critter, I have someone put some of the blood in the tigers' mouth to "Feed the tiger". My jump wings say GFY.

Back in my military days, way back in time, I considered a tat. After enough liquid courage (about half a wine cooler), I approached the tattoo shop. I wanted to get MOM across my bicep but the tattoo artist looked at my skinny little arms and said' "you might get MO there". By then the effects of my over indulgence in alcohol had worn off and wisdom prevailed. I remain tatless to this day.

I have "Eat at Joe's" tattooed on my pecker.

Girls always laugh at it until they see that it really reads "Eat at Joe's Restaurant and Lounge, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dinner Specials Nightly".

Jim,

Was that lateral or circumferential?

Mart

Lateral, 36 point font.

Amen !

I have three tattoos, a small pink rosebud on my upper right arm, on the left side I have three intials and a number significant to someone very dear to me, and on my left wrist in the form of a bracelet is written in Baroque Script "By the Grace of God" a reminder of the only reason and way I have survived the life I have lived. These tattoos mean something to me, they mean nothing to anyone else, and they were never meant to.

I spend no time telling others' what to do with their bodies and their money. Bottom line, I don't care, it's not one iota of my business, period.

Maybe it's just me but I don't recall all that much wide spread popularity with tattoo's among the general public prior to the mid-1980's or so. Like many trends and styles it seems like the tattoo trend started with entertainment celebrities, then sports figures and then spread.

I've seen some tattoos that I thought were very attractive but even more I consider as mediocre to poorly done "doodling". I remember one ex-con on parole who was inking local young folks on the cheap with his home made prison version tattoo gun. No idea how throughly he sterilized his equipment between customers. He did say he was saving up to buy a real professional tattoo gun so most likely he didn't own any professional sterilization equipment yet either.

The one bit of advice I remember getting from my dad that I never tried putting to the test was to not ever get a tattoo. Dad had a relatively small red heart with "MOM" inside it on his left forearm and he always said if he had some things in his past he could to do over again he would never have a tattoo of any kind.

I have only had the desire for one Tattoo in my life...may still get it done.....never too old to be young I say! Back in my day.....guys in my line of work were heavily discouraged about having visible identifying marks....hell they didn't even want you to have distinguishing scars.

This is it.............




For those that know what it means.....no words are needed.

For those that don't, words would never convey the spirit.........

And the folks showing up for welfare with fresh "ink" should be denied!

I love going to Wal-Mart and when a completly tat'ed person is strutting their stuff I pont and yell:
" Look! The Circus must be in town!"

If that ain't judging a group of folks, I don't know what is.

reading this thread gave me an idea. Just might get a tat of my X giving me a knobjob located where she is sure to see it.

Words for the wise... If your wife has tattoos, do not post pics of them on the Campfire and ask the group, "What do you think of my wife's new tattoos..?"

I guarantee you will get your feelers hurt

My youngest daughter used to think that stuff was all great. That is until she started her own business. One day while I was there one of her girl friends she had worked with stopped by. I just sat there and listened. Her friend was looking for work. My daughter had been looking for another employee. But she didn't have a job.

I ask after she left I thought you were looking for another employee. She said Dad she would scare the hell out of my customers. It just takes some people a little longer to wakeup than others. This was when she was 20.

They'll look just as unique and individualistic ...as everyone else...

I have three. Upper left arm is a dancing red devil drinking a beer and shooting a gun


Upper right arm/ shoulder. Is a call lanyard that starts draped overy shoulder curves down around my bicep/tricep and ends with individual calls just above my elbow. In tge center is the DU emblem


Third is the badge number of one of my best friends who was killed in. LOD. On my left pec.

Looking back on the mistakes I made when I was young and dumb,
getting a tatoo was not all that bad. Not when I add smoking to the list.

I always wanted to get a 100 dollar bill tattooed on my cock. That way my girlfriend had a good reason to blow my money

I've got one tat.

It's been part of me for quite some time.

I'd miss it if it was gone.

If I had stayed in the military as a career I'd likely have gotten my branch's insignia tattooed on one cheek of my butt, signifying that "your soul belongs to God, but your ass belongs to the US Army!".

Tats suck and most who have them tend to regret it on down the road.

Miss Lynn, I haven't seen you around here for so long that I thought maybe you had done left town fer good.

You doing hokay?

I spent ten years as a funeral director...all your tattoos will eventually look like blotchy stains on your skin. Of course you won't care by then, but there will be some time before you do die, that no one will have a clue what your tattoo is supposed to represent.

I was shearing in Tasmania in the 80's and went into Launceston to a tattoo parlour and had my blood type and a Tasmanian devil inked onto my inside left forearm, and probably because I was shearing and my skin was moist and covered in lanolin I had no scabbing or ink bleeding.

I have never been inclined to get another and very rarely even remember it is there...but every now and then it catches my eye and it refreshes memories from that time.

Lucky I did not get one on my arse, for the damn thing would be 6x the size by now.

Well done Jeff.

Tattoo = old Indian word for bad decision maker.................................................................................................................

I have more tat's than I can count.
Ted nugent -cat scratch fever -black sabath paranoid -VH -hank jr country boy can survive -beer drinkers hell raisers -women I've dated names -tammy -dee dee - Lorene -donna --motoX forever -live to ride ride to live -Yosemite sam on my lower back says -back off.
That 7" tarantula might be my next tat..
They all look a lot better when i'm in good shape -back in the 80's Roids were easy to find and of coarse I was a lot younger .
The tats looked totally cool when I was huge -tanned and having the time of my life -i'll post pictures soon if anybody is interested.
Mike :]

Obviously.

Obviously, any comment that isn't approval or admiration is "judging" � which both approval and admiration are, come to think of it.

Jesus H! Could it be possible our "town clown" moved or there is some oddly related reason more than one freakin idiot did that? I schit u not.......

Of course we also have a guys who dresses like Elvis.....but I digress.



Bob

Heard the same with "Wendy" and the "long version" being, "welcome to Jamaica and have a nice day!"

Bob

"Wanna see where I got my breasts tattooed?" Babe asked Beau on their first date.

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" drool, pant, slobber

"Coupla blocks down the street, around the corner from the bank."

I've never noticed that, but I've noticed that they all appear to eventually become blue.

(Is mentioning that observation also "judging a lot of people?")

Is it possible to post even a neutral observation or curiosity about tattoos that won't be judged to be "judging" people?

That does not apply to *all* youth.

Doesn't matter---judging is just using your ability to think for yourself.

If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything, may apply here...in my judgment..

Bristoe has a tramp stamp from the 70,s.
It is a picture of a gerbil on his lower back and says enter here.

My opinion about a tattoo......is everybody should have one!!!!!!

That's the rather bland, neutral, literal, denotative sense of the term, all right � but the pejorative connotative sense is usually the way that it's used in this context on this forum.




denotative sense � what the word literally means, by definition
connotative sense � what it calls to readers' minds, in context

look up!!!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

IIRC, the "judge not" and the "be judged" in Matthew 7:1 are translations of two discrete words � the first one meaning "appoint yourself judge" or "decide according to your own private criteria," and the second one meaning something like "sentenced justly."

Tats and piercings are really cool! Just don't expect a job at my company if they are visible above your neck line.

Mike

Same goes for tats on hands...and am I the only one that feels the urge to pinch those metal do-dads between thumb and forefinger and reef them out of the skin/nose/eyebrow/face?

No you're not!

Mike

I bet yer little kitty would love some fresh fish. Cats dig the stuff, I'm tellin' ya...

Pretty astute observation,IMO.

Tattoos you pay for. Scars you earn.

I have been picking up some extra retirement money teaching shooting & gun laws for a private security company. Any visible tattoos & any security company & most law enforcement agencies will not consider the individual for employment. Years ago when a manager for an electrical manufacturer I had an engineer that had a tattoo on his forearm. He wore long sleeve shirts in July. While I don't need or want a tattoo I could care less what other people do with their bodies.

It just struck me - you know what would make a really cool tattoo - a pair of bull nuts.

One guy whom I know uses that very thing as his business logo � http://www.bullberry.com/. Y'oughta see the big sign outside his shop!

I was at a caravel recently and went into one of the old time freak shows. That actually had a woman there who had no tattoos at all. It been a long time since I've seen that and well worth the price of admission to see a woman free of comic book art.

Interesting thread here... Even though I don't have a tatoo. Once upon a time I ALMOST did. Back in 1970 as a 20 yr. old Marine. Almost got a small banner near the top of my left shoulder with the letters "U.S.M.C." on it. Know what stopped me? Growing up around a lot of WWII vets, most of whom had a tatoo. Especially my dad's pal, named Bud; at a picnic when I was 9 or 10 (would have been 1959 or '60) I asked him to pull up his sleeve a bit higher so I could see his tatoo. Upon seeing it I exclaimed, "Wow, that's really neat!". Then Bud told me; "Yeah, I thought it was really neat too in 1943 but now I'm so damn sick of looking at it". So in 1970 I had this vision of myself in future years looking at my tatoo and regretting it. So I figured "right now I'll save my money and think about the tatoo later". But then I never got around to it.

Sometimes the tattoo covers up the scars you didn't earn and didn't want, but someone wanted you to have them anyways....

excellent observasion Miss Lynn ,lot of scars hiding behind Real and Invisable walls also.

norm

Ssn on the bottom of your foot would be a good one. Always put a Id number under the arm of my dogs.

That's a good idea. I had my dog chipped as a pup, and when I took her to the Vet for one of her yearly checkups/shots, they couldn't find the chip for quite a while. I thought if she got lost and ended up in a pound somewhere, they may not invest the time it took that Vet to find the dog's chip, and I may be out of a dog as a result.

"no one will have a clue what your tattoo is supposed to represent."

No problem! It will say I WAS AN IDIOT!!

You are probably right as you already sound like one now.

Our middle daughter has a couple very unobtrusive tats that cost her big. One is on the back of her neck and the other on her ring finger. They kept her out of the Coast Guard and the navy. She studied criminal justice and had to have them removed before she could attempt to find a police job, which she's now working on finding.

Most tats are just way too poor in the art department. Seen an attractive young women in the bank one day with an eyeball on the back of her neck. Art was damn good, tattoo was freaking me out! Wonder what her grandkids will think of it?

!!

Gotta love the humor of Stephen Lynch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwAiFWCiOH8

I have seen the tiger fed haha.