[DouglasKC]

I was interested in the cultural and historical meaning and reasons for tattoos which is pretty much accurate here.

[Polynikes]

I once had a boss who had a series of numbers tattooed on his inner forearm. I always thought it was a number from the death camps because his age was about right and he was Jewish so I never asked about it. Finally one day I did ask him in private. Turns out it was from his navy days. Basically young guy out of basic, drunk, in San Diego and couldn't decide what he wanted. He defaulted to having his SSN tattooed on his arm.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***It is to be noted that while ‘cuttings’ are qualified by the phrase ‘for the dead’***

Cutting one’s flesh was often done to mourn for the dead in various cultures..

The American Indian often cut themselves to mourn for the dead even to the point of cutting off fingers.

Charlie Russell did a painting of this entitled “Her heart is on the ground”, while Andrew Garcia told how his Indian woman cut herself to mourn, some of the slices being a half inch deep.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

The worst tats I’ve ever seen were those by people who could not afford professional tats.

A needle and India ink, really awful stuff, mostly simple designs from back in the 1960s. Swastikas were popular even though many could not get them on properly, names of girlfriends long gone, and assorted horrible designs.

Then after a few years they begin to blur and look horrible.

On some people, the skin actually moves over the years. A scar on my dad’s back migrated over 50 years to his neck. Think how a good looking tattoo will look when it becomes blurred and distorted after many years.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I've often head of tattooing children with their addresses. Some even get offended by it.

[Jeff Chandler]

Low self-esteem, lack of self-control, sadomasochism, bondage, fetishism, bisexuality, antisocial personality, mania and bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia

. . . but enough about the Democrat National Committee.

[ctdonath2]

This is the reason to not get a tattoo in a language you don’t understand: http://hanzismatter.blogspot.com