Bad Tattoos

Off Topic
101

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Dirty_Bulk wrote:
It never fails. The other day I see a some girl I know showing her friends the new ink she got on the back of her neck. She just HAS to show everyone, so I too get a glance at the highly visible, pink-heart embellished design. Yeah, it was one of ‘those’ tattoos.

Worse yet, every other girl interjects with a story about the design she’s getting in two weeks that includes a butterfly, dolphin, fish, or rainbow stars. I can’t judge what these mean for every single person, but I can’t help but think that there’s not a lot of depth behind them.

Every one of these girls is 18-20, and is probably paying for the tat with daddy’s cash. It’s not just the young girls either. Every other 20 something guy I know has a nautical star or decorative cross somewhere on their body. Whenever the subject of tattoos comes up, I have to hear someone say, word for word, ‘yeah I’m definitely getting a tattoo, but I don’t know where or what it’ll be.’ I wish I was kidding.

You can do whatever you want with your body, but I can’t understand why people take getting ink so lightly. I’ve met very few tattooed people that had no regret whatsoever for getting their designs. Even those I know as young as 20 regret what they got done as little as a year before.

Still, tattoos fascinate me, and I think good ones (however you want to define that) are great. However, I don’t really ever see good tattoos. I see a lot of what I cynically view as meaningless, regretful stuff done in the pursuit of a fashion statement.

To those that do have tattoos, what are they, why did you get them, and do you have any regret of them? Would you get them again? I can never ask people I know these things because I respect that they might be too personal, or they regret getting them and don’t want to discuss them.

I’m one of your “twenty-something guys with a cross”. Decorative? Fuck you.

Who the hell are you to judge what someone puts on themselves? Meaningless? When was the last time you walked in their shoes? This is one of the most arrogant dickheaded things I’ve ever read.

My tattoo looks like the picture, not exactly but close. You want a history? You want to know about my personal battles with Catholicism and whether or not there’s a god, because you stopped believing when everyone you knew started dying?

You know about being Irish and having the weight of history on you every time you say outloud you think there’s no God? Did you get dragged to the St. patty’s day parade every year, and hear about how the Protestants fucked up Ireland for a thousand years?

Did you ever read “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” and think that Joyce was writing about you? Did it take you your life to finally come back around to not thinking that the Catholic church was a hideous, worthless institution, and then you got the celtic cross put on you, and you watch the blood drip out of the middle of it and you remember why you did it?

“Decorative”? Fuck you.[/quote]

Good post FightinIrish! I’m one of those posers also with a “decorative” cross tatt. I also have a Celtic cross. Its on my chest, over my heart. The colors of the tatt, the location, they all have a deep meaning to me. I never once regretted getting it.

Anyway, some board members have mentioned partners names on their bodies. I have my wife’s first and middle name on my traps. Her first name on my ring finger.

My only regret is that I should have got her name on my traps written in bigger letters.

Dustin

102

[quote]playmaker08 wrote:
My girlfriend just got a stupid looking shooting star tattoo on her foot. All of her friends got the same one to symbolize their friendship, kinda stupid in my opinion.[/quote]

bang her friend, end their friendship, and make a mockery of them collectively.

103

[quote]Scrotus wrote:
I have a tattoo of a rhino humping a bullfrog on my dick, so i can ask a girl “you ever seen a rhino hump a bullfrog?” and she says “no” then bam i got my dick in her face. anyway the moral of the story is mace hurts.[/quote]

This thread is useless without pics.

104

[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
Scrotus wrote:
I have a tattoo of a rhino humping a bullfrog on my dick, so i can ask a girl “you ever seen a rhino hump a bullfrog?” and she says “no” then bam i got my dick in her face. anyway the moral of the story is mace hurts.

This thread is useless without pics.

[/quote]

hey hop on a plane and I’ll show it to you personally.

105

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
I’m one of your “twenty-something guys with a cross”. Decorative? Fuck you.

Who the hell are you to judge what someone puts on themselves? Meaningless? When was the last time you walked in their shoes? This is one of the most arrogant dickheaded things I’ve ever read.

My tattoo looks like the picture, not exactly but close. You want a history? You want to know about my personal battles with Catholicism and whether or not there’s a god, because you stopped believing when everyone you knew started dying?

You know about being Irish and having the weight of history on you every time you say outloud you think there’s no God? Did you get dragged to the St. patty’s day parade every year, and hear about how the Protestants fucked up Ireland for a thousand years?

Did you ever read “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” and think that Joyce was writing about you? Did it take you your life to finally come back around to not thinking that the Catholic church was a hideous, worthless institution, and then you got the celtic cross put on you, and you watch the blood drip out of the middle of it and you remember why you did it?

“Decorative”? Fuck you.[/quote]

Your tattoo means something very significant. Cool. I’m glad. My ranting OP does not apply to you. The 20 somethings I refer to live extremely contrary to the Christian way of life and put the cross on their bodies on a whim. It irritates me. That is what I wish to convey, certainly not that ‘crosses are bullshit.’

106

[quote]Dirty_Bulk wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:
I’m one of your “twenty-something guys with a cross”. Decorative? Fuck you.

Who the hell are you to judge what someone puts on themselves? Meaningless? When was the last time you walked in their shoes? This is one of the most arrogant dickheaded things I’ve ever read.

My tattoo looks like the picture, not exactly but close. You want a history? You want to know about my personal battles with Catholicism and whether or not there’s a god, because you stopped believing when everyone you knew started dying?

You know about being Irish and having the weight of history on you every time you say outloud you think there’s no God? Did you get dragged to the St. patty’s day parade every year, and hear about how the Protestants fucked up Ireland for a thousand years?

Did you ever read “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” and think that Joyce was writing about you? Did it take you your life to finally come back around to not thinking that the Catholic church was a hideous, worthless institution, and then you got the celtic cross put on you, and you watch the blood drip out of the middle of it and you remember why you did it?

“Decorative”? Fuck you.

Your tattoo means something very significant. Cool. I’m glad. My ranting OP does not apply to you. The 20 somethings I refer to live extremely contrary to the Christian way of life and put the cross on their bodies on a whim. It irritates me. That is what I wish to convey, certainly not that ‘crosses are bullshit.’[/quote]

No, you have no idea why they put them there. You can’t get inside someone’s head and think what they’re thinking. They might tell you that they only did it because “It was cool”, but 95% of the time tattoos have a much deeper meaning than people will let on to you.

If you asked me on the street why I got my cross, I’d tell you it’s because I’m Irish and Catholic. I barely live the Christian way like some folks claim to, either. I wouldn’t go into that rant unless you provoked me by questioning my wisdom in the way that you did. Most people are the same way.

All I’m saying is that for something so very personal as a tattoo, you have to be careful about assuming that people do things on a whim. Some people might, but it’s probably less than 2% of the tattoo holding population, though.

Out of all that tatted up guy I know, the only one that got something completely meaningless to him was a skinny little cokehead who picked something off the wall. And even then, maybe in his warped little mind, it made sense to him.

Either way, it’s not your place to judge.

107

OK…what if you draw the tat yourself? i read a bunch of posts saying “half tribal sleeve poser shits”…well i designed it all myself and got the first 2 sessions done so far, and in my opinion…the only “gay tats” are when a person goes into the studio and literally just picks some jamoke ass shit off of the wall and gets that the same day. Other than that, I really dont care. and people who have ink on them presently only cares about THEIR tats, not whats on other people

108


here are some bad tats

109

packing heat…yanno in case you wanna rob a liquor store and forgot your gun, just flash that BAD ASS tat…wont even know the difference

110

these are on some kids myspace under an album…“tats im going to get”…now i dont know what bothers me more. The bad taste in general of them, or the fact that people already have these and hes gonna copy…

111

pipes those are pretty awful, especially the legs one

112

http://gaygamer.net/images/sephiroth-tattoo-1.jpg

113

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
No, you have no idea why they put them there. You can’t get inside someone’s head and think what they’re thinking. They might tell you that they only did it because “It was cool”, but 95% of the time tattoos have a much deeper meaning than people will let on to you.[/quote]
Every anonymous person I’ve referred to in my posts is someone I know well, not someone I see flashing their ink on the street once or twice. You raise a good point that people don’t always let on the ‘whole truth,’ but when someone tells me about their tat, I take their word for it.

Maybe it’s a California thing, but I would estimate the ‘whim factor’ is a whole lot higher than 2%, going by my experiences.

‘Judge?’ This keeps coming up. I never said tatting is an art contest and I choose the winners. I observed that the number of people I know that get tattoos and regret them almost immediately has increased dramatically. Either way, my opinion is mine to have.

114

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

No, you have no idea why they put them there. You can’t get inside someone’s head and think what they’re thinking. They might tell you that they only did it because “It was cool”, but 95% of the time tattoos have a much deeper meaning than people will let on to you.

[/quote]

If he has no idea why they put them there, neither do you. You don’t know if it has meaning any more than he does. Whipping out this “95% of the time” bullshit is just that. Bullshit.

My friend got a clown on his arm in high school. One of my best friends, actually. Now when people ask him about why he got it he says “Because high school was a joke to me.” The explanation is completely made up. I THINK more people get random tats then you would like to believe, but I could be wrong, just like you could be wrong about what you think.

This is not to flame anyone who has tatts with or without meaning. I just think more people make up what the tat means to them so they don’t come off as “I got this tat to look cool”. I’m glad your tat has meaning. Mine unfortunately don’t. And when I get around to it, I’ll throw a couple pictures of my lady and my off the wall tribal piece on my back…haha. My tats are horrible.

115

[quote]ericbyrnesjr wrote:
pipes those are pretty awful, especially the legs one[/quote]

I think they are hysterical.

116

[quote]Dirty_Bulk wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:

All I’m saying is that for something so very personal as a tattoo, you have to be careful about assuming that people do things on a whim. Some people might, but it’s probably less than 2% of the tattoo holding population, though.

Maybe it’s a California thing, but I would estimate the ‘whim factor’ is a whole lot higher than 2%, going by my experiences.

[/quote]

2% or 100%, who the fuck cares? The reasons are personal, and none of your business. So what if the tatt’s a whim or the consequence of a drunken decision, it’s not you that has to live with it.

The only time I would question a person’s tattoo, would be if it said “Fuck Yo Momma”. And I’d be sure to have my posse watching my back.

117

[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
Dirty_Bulk wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:

All I’m saying is that for something so very personal as a tattoo, you have to be careful about assuming that people do things on a whim. Some people might, but it’s probably less than 2% of the tattoo holding population, though.

Maybe it’s a California thing, but I would estimate the ‘whim factor’ is a whole lot higher than 2%, going by my experiences.

2% or 100%, who the fuck cares? The reasons are personal, and none of your business. So what if the tatt’s a whim or the consequence of a drunken decision, it’s not you that has to live with it.

The only time I would question a person’s tattoo, would be if it said “Fuck Yo Momma”. And I’d be sure to have my posse watching my back.

[/quote]

Maybe “he” just has the hots for you. Please don’t sic your posse on me, pussy would be much nicer.

118

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Yo Momma wrote:

2% or 100%, who the fuck cares? The reasons are personal, and none of your business. So what if the tatt’s a whim or the consequence of a drunken decision, it’s not you that has to live with it.

The only time I would question a person’s tattoo, would be if it said “Fuck Yo Momma”. And I’d be sure to have my posse watching my back.

Maybe “he” just has the hots for you. Please don’t sic your posse on me, pussy would be much nicer.[/quote]

Could be. I do hang with a rough crowd.
And that’s the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, you like it.

119

[quote]DickBag wrote:
also, i think copying that “gun” tatoo is pretty funny to.

if one guy gets it, he looks stupid.

if 200 guys get it copying the original guy, its just plain funny AND stupid.

the stupid factor makes it funnier

im tempted[/quote]

huh…i never thought of it like that…lol. regardless, you got balls i wouldnt get that shit haha…and hey…heres one more for ya dickbag…i hunted this down to truly test your humor haha

120

As far as the OP goes, I agree in that I dont think anything which will become a permanent part of your body should be taken lightly.

The originators of the tribal designs, such as the Maoris and Samoans, all had deep meanings for their tattoos - it said something about the individual’s tribe or clan, who they were, and whatever spiritual meanings the tattoo represented. Even today among them, if an elder sees your tattoo and asks you what it means, and you dont know what it means, you are severely reprimanded. Mike Tyson and Robbie Williams have both been criticized for their use of Maori designs in their tattoos, because the patterns were basically stolen or plagiarized from someones tribe and they have no idea what it means.

Today’s society is disconnected from the real meanings behind things; superficial in many ways, which is why you see the proliferation of trashy, trivial, superficial, meaningless tattoos in random places. A tattoo should never be done as some kind of “hip” or chic fashion accessory.

There are all kinds of meanings to a tattoo - even those funny tattoos such as the armpit one, the gun, or the monkey above, say somethng about the individual because as DickBag said, it means they dont take themselves too seriously - so those tattoos mean they are funny guys. Tribute tattoos to a loved one also have meaning. A cartoon character can even say something about the person. BUT -

Basically, I think a tattoo has to be [b]timeless or the individual will regret it later on; it may even cause them trouble later in life. A cartoon character done as a teen may not suit the individual later on as an adult. A person you were in love with, whose name you put on your arm, and then you broke up with later - there’s another example. Or if you had a tattoo done in your earlier years, which prevented you from getting that great job you wanted now…

So if you choose a shallow tattoo, it’s always going to be there staring you in the face for the rest of your life for you and everyone else to see. And it might not suit you later on.

The tattoos which are based on spiritual things that are done shallowly; those are also bad because it dishonours and trivializes the real meaning of the symbol.