I do find it funny. Why? Because alot of Marines or Sailors would ask me what their tattoos translate to. I just reply to them that it's a swear word in Chinese.
Tattoos of Chinese characters
- Thread starter K-Man
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I took a semester of University level Chinese (Mandarin). It's easy to understand how native speakers for either language can hose up the other language.
For an English speaker, learning to understand and speak Chinese is at least 2 or 3 times as hard as Spanish and that's not counting learning to read and write. Toss in reading and writing and it's many times the work.
It would be easier for Chinese person to learn English because it's easier to learn how to use an alphabet than learn a zillion Chinese characters.
For an English speaker, learning to understand and speak Chinese is at least 2 or 3 times as hard as Spanish and that's not counting learning to read and write. Toss in reading and writing and it's many times the work.
It would be easier for Chinese person to learn English because it's easier to learn how to use an alphabet than learn a zillion Chinese characters.
This excerpted letter appeared in the syndicated version of Judith Martin's "Miss Manners" column on 22 November 2006. Oddly enough, the original Washington Post version of the same column did not carry this letter, though that is the home paper.
"Dear Miss Manners: I am a sophomore in college, working toward an Asian studies major. Since I started learning Japanese and Chinese, I began taking notice of Chinese characters on T-shirts, tattoos and other places....
"One day, I had a conversation with a nice lady who happened to have a tattoo on her upper arm. When I mentioned my major, she brought up the tattoo, but I quickly realized that the tattoo didn't say what she thought it did.
"She told me it said 'butterfly,' but I knew it actually meant bird. I didn't point this out but felt a little guilty for letting her continue to think it meant butterfly. Another time, a man told me the tattoos he had on his forearms said 'love' and 'hate.' 'Love' was correct, but instead of 'hate' the character said 'bad.'
"Sometimes I'll see shirts, occasionally very fancy ones, with entirely nonsense phrases on them. In one instance, there was a very large, muscular man walking around with the character for 'woman' on his chest.
"Also, I have seen some places that offer temporary tattoos whose listings are completely wrong (I have never been in an actual tattoo parlor), such as listing 'heart' as 'love' and vice versa, or writing 'peace' with only one symbol (it's a two-character word, and the first character alone, as I often see it, just means 'flat' or 'smooth').
"I tried speaking to the manager of one place about this, figuring it better to get it straightened out with him rather than the people who buy the tattoos. I explained what was wrong and showed him examples from the pocket dictionary I have, but he said that it was the list they got from their supplier, and he couldn't do anything about it....
"Can you please explain to your readers the importance of being sure what a character says before buying the shirt or getting it permanently etched into their skin? It's not very hard to find a reliable source: Many large bookstores offer Chinese or Japanese dictionaries."
Response: "Gentle Reader: The key word here is 'before.' While Miss Manners appreciates your desire to rescue people from the danger of being misread, your instinct about not correcting the would-be Madame Butterfly was even kinder. What exactly would you have expected her to do about it?
"One rule about correcting others is that you do so only if the error is something that can be easily and immediately remedied—the spinach on the tooth rule. Another is that you not shame innocent people by demonstrating that you know more than they do, in this case, the customers.
"Those who sell misleadingly are not innocent, and because they don't seem to care, you might direct your efforts to their suppliers...."
Looks as if there are a lot of jokes and frauds involving Chinese and Japanese tattoos going around. Buyer beware. Wonder if someone really does have a tattoo saying "bean curd"?
"Dear Miss Manners: I am a sophomore in college, working toward an Asian studies major. Since I started learning Japanese and Chinese, I began taking notice of Chinese characters on T-shirts, tattoos and other places....
"One day, I had a conversation with a nice lady who happened to have a tattoo on her upper arm. When I mentioned my major, she brought up the tattoo, but I quickly realized that the tattoo didn't say what she thought it did.
"She told me it said 'butterfly,' but I knew it actually meant bird. I didn't point this out but felt a little guilty for letting her continue to think it meant butterfly. Another time, a man told me the tattoos he had on his forearms said 'love' and 'hate.' 'Love' was correct, but instead of 'hate' the character said 'bad.'
"Sometimes I'll see shirts, occasionally very fancy ones, with entirely nonsense phrases on them. In one instance, there was a very large, muscular man walking around with the character for 'woman' on his chest.
"Also, I have seen some places that offer temporary tattoos whose listings are completely wrong (I have never been in an actual tattoo parlor), such as listing 'heart' as 'love' and vice versa, or writing 'peace' with only one symbol (it's a two-character word, and the first character alone, as I often see it, just means 'flat' or 'smooth').
"I tried speaking to the manager of one place about this, figuring it better to get it straightened out with him rather than the people who buy the tattoos. I explained what was wrong and showed him examples from the pocket dictionary I have, but he said that it was the list they got from their supplier, and he couldn't do anything about it....
"Can you please explain to your readers the importance of being sure what a character says before buying the shirt or getting it permanently etched into their skin? It's not very hard to find a reliable source: Many large bookstores offer Chinese or Japanese dictionaries."
Response: "Gentle Reader: The key word here is 'before.' While Miss Manners appreciates your desire to rescue people from the danger of being misread, your instinct about not correcting the would-be Madame Butterfly was even kinder. What exactly would you have expected her to do about it?
"One rule about correcting others is that you do so only if the error is something that can be easily and immediately remedied—the spinach on the tooth rule. Another is that you not shame innocent people by demonstrating that you know more than they do, in this case, the customers.
"Those who sell misleadingly are not innocent, and because they don't seem to care, you might direct your efforts to their suppliers...."
Looks as if there are a lot of jokes and frauds involving Chinese and Japanese tattoos going around. Buyer beware. Wonder if someone really does have a tattoo saying "bean curd"?
Kestas
Staff member
Probably the same people who write english instructions on imported chinese product... and ends up on Tonight Show's "Headlines"
Quest -
Not attacking you, but I'm curious too what you find offensive. The prank or the fact that some bimbo is trivializing your heritage by having it tattooed on her for the sake of fashion?
I think if I was Chinese I'd appreciate her getting OWNED for being so shallow!
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