Posted on 01/18/2006 12:22:09 PM PST by Dr. Marten
All Things Considered, January 11, 2006 · Robert Siegel talks with Tian Tang, author of a Web site dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters in Western culture. Tang posts photos of Chinese character tattoos that either contain errors or carry no meaning.
Tang says as a Chinese American, he felt it was his "duty and honor to educate the public about the misusage of Chinese characters."
A reader e-mailed Tang this photo of a friend's tattoo. It's supposed to read "bad boy" in Chinese, except the order of last two characters has been reversed. Courtesy Tian Tang
This is absolutely hilarious. The dumbutt kid gets stuff tatooed on his arm in a language he can neither speak nor read.
In reality, the real meaning of the tatoo comes pretty close, IMO.
What's Chinese for "Engrish?"
Dunno. It's too late in my life to learn Chinese, so I'll skip it. I have a few phrases in Hmong, since I have Hmong neigbors and I like to say polite things to the old grandmother who putters in her garden.
My favorite tatoos are the tramp stamps I see everywhere I go on the pretty young things. I don't care about the tatoo, but I love seeing their sacral dimples. They make me feel all nice in my britches.
This is link is to a funny video from a SNL skit about lower back tattoos...
http://www.drtattoff.com/tattoo-skit.php
HA-HA-HA. You made me laugh. You D.O.M. (dirty ol'man).
And just how much of a chance would he have stood with "Love, Honor and Obey" on his arm, instead? ;)
"You D.O.M. (dirty ol'man)."
Indeed. At my age, I've earned it.
So many of these tattooed clowns can't spell in English so what difference is it if they can't spell in Chinese? If they want to go around sporting a tattoo that says "I am a prune Danish", that's their business.
the new order translates to idiot !
I had fun with a young lady awhile back. She had a Chinese script tattoo on her arm. Several of us were at the bar reminiscing about our time in various Asian countries when we noticed it. She had also been listening in to our conversation.
We started laughing and talking about the tattoo – I wondered if she could read Chinese. You know how several people can get the same idea at the same time? When she came over we asked if she knew what the tattoo read – before she could answer someone told her it meant “cheap whore”. She left the bar in a hurry.
I wonder if she had it removed. None of us could read Chinese.
I know some Japanese due to my martial arts training. I saw a girl walk past me at a basketball game at UNC Charlotte a couple months ago with a Japanese symbol on the back of her right shoulder. I asked her what it meant. She said it meant "sexy".
I saved my laughter until she got out of earshot. She probably still doesn't know that she has the equivalent of "swine" or "dirty pig" written on her back. Tattoo guy obviously got tired of writing lies on fat white chicks and decided to have some fun :-)
Beat me to it. (The adamsheik page)
Almost as funny as Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" - literal translation "I'm a jelly donut!"
Ah, but the press was kinder then.
We're talking cream of the crop, here, intellectually speaking...
Yeah, he meant to say "My brother's a jelly donut"
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