Apr 13, 2006
Kanji/Hanzi
In which there’s a happy ending.
Shegeki posted today about people who get Kanji tattoos and don’t know what they mean, and how he’d encourage anyone getting one to have it vetted by someone who knows better before committing it to their flesh for the rest of their lives.
It’s good advice.
The post prompted me to mention my own possibly-foolish Kanji tattoo to Vuboq, and one thing led to another and (as is often the case on the Internet) a digital picture of flesh was soon involved:
I got this tat from Fat Joe’s Jade Dragon in Chicago (they’ve done two of my three tats). I picked it off the rack, so it could mean anything. I thought it meant, “to serve, to work, to do.” I was beginning to fear that it might mean ‘dog shit’ or possibly even nothing at all.
But Vuboq found me this link and I’m so relieved. The tat does mean what I think it does!
I’m gonna be a little nitpicky here. Japanese people call Chinese characters “Kanji,” Koreans call them “Hanja,” Chinese call them their own. So in deference to the Chinese, who’ve shared their characters with other cultures, shouldn’t we just call them, at the very least, Chinese characters or “Hanzi?” I’m just wondering out loud.
Corrected. Thanks! -m
Perhaps I’m too new to this site, but do you have other tattoos? I’ve considered getting a tattoo–the infinity symbol. I like the ideas of symbols… characters as opposed to images… one subtle mark as opposed to a flaming skull with snakes crawling out of the eye sockets. But that’s just me.
Since my gallery’s down, this is the only tat pic I can offer you. -m
Are you wearing that cool-ass brown and pink t-shirt again? Oh, and by the way, you don’t have to show me some skin to keep me interested! Hell, I’ll come back whether you’re naked or fully clothed!
Huh. Wonder why that is.
-m
Very cool. I got a tattoo at a tattoo place in Austin that also had the word “dragon” in the name. It’s a turtle. I have a turtle on my ass. I was 17. Sigh. I have a VERY white ass, with a very BRIGHT turtle on it. I think it makes people laugh on the inside when they see it. I reddens my face thinking of this.
You took your panties down for your first tat? YOU ROCK! -m
I have dwarf runes tattooed on my shin.
(Talk about ‘brave’ things that teens do…)
Glad that it says what you thought it did. I have often wondered about such things.
Scott
I picked mine out of a chinese/english dictionary myself – it means “to be”.
It is, after all, the question. -m