Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
Actually several people have changed their minds after things that I have said. A tattoo is not a t-shirt or even a piercing. It is a message, and if the message will not be conveyed correctly or has another meaning in a foreign language, then the person getting that message permanently inked on their body deserves to know that.
Someone recently asked about getting "Live for today" in Japanese on her body. I could have just given her the translation, but instead told her that phrase inked on your body reads like a deathwish "I want to only live today". It gets tricky when you try to "translate" cultural ideals into different languages because it is RARE that it means the intended meaning, especially when it comes to Japanese and other especially foreign languages from English.
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I agree that they should know this, but I think that immediately starting by saying how stupid/trendy/ignorant/racist it is without knowing anything about the person is rude and pointless (not that you were doing this, I'm just saying.)