Chinese Youths Crazy for English Alphabet Tattoos
By Jeff Lyons on Oct 1, 2005 in News
"The guy at the tattoo shop told me this means brave and proud warrior in English," said beaming Beijing teenager Hao Tsang as he pointed to the letters GARF freshly inked onto his left bicep. "It's perfect for me because I am very bold and confident, yet spiritual."
Tsang's friend Yuan Chi Hao also went under the needle for some English language characters. "Mine simply says FRUNK. The letters are so beautiful and flow so smoothly into each other. The word actually means old soul with young spirit in English. How cool is that?"
Apparently, very cool.
Throngs of Chinese youths are flocking to tattoo parlors looking to colorfully emboss their bodies with "meaningful" English language words.
"I couldn’t decide between CRYMPH or DLECH," said Chengdu high school student Mingmei Lee. "I know they both mean beautiful flower dancing in the wind in American, but I can't decide what looks prettier."
This strange trend mirrors a popular body art movement in the US where many Americans — especially professional basketball players and young celebrities — get Chinese language characters tattooed on their bodies. Many believe the Chinese characters add an air of spirituality to their beings and help present them as enlightened individuals who respect and admire foreign cultures.
A.J. McLean of the man-band Backstreet Boys proudly displayed his fresh ink after leaving a popular LA tattoo parlor. "Check it out," said the very excited singer as he pointed to the characters on his left forearm. "My man just hooked me up with some mad asian ink! He says it means wise wolf that guards the pack. That’s totally me dawg… I take care of my boys. Cool dat!"
Upon further investigation, the characters were found to actaully mean dog ass.
"Listen, these Hollywood hotshots come in here every night wanting something foreign and deep. I only know how to do about twenty Chinese characters and I have no idea what they mean. But who the hell cares? They just look neat. I make up meanings like precious gem floating in pond. Dumb chicks hopped up on ex really go for that one," said burly ex-marine tattoo artist Jake McNaughton with a hearty laugh.
Beijing tattoo artist Johnny Chang echoed the sentiments of his American counterpart, "Kids are stupid. Funny nonsense tattoos make me laugh ha ha. I take letters from American soda cans and candy wrappers and rearrange them into words. GWIPO is my number one favorite. TWARP is also pretty lucky good!"
Jeff Lyons
International Culture Reporter
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Tags: Asia • Beijing • chinese tattoos • humor • ink • Satire • tattoo
Hahahahaahahahahahahaahahahaha…Thanks for the laugh >;^)
Trajan | Oct 17, 2007 | Reply
What kind of retard goes into a tattoo parlor and asks for a foreign language to be forever tattooed on him/her without doing research before hand????
That’s what those morons get.
tattoosmakeme... | Oct 17, 2007 | Reply
Wow. Seriously. This is what we get for not using our own languages. If you want “flower dancing in the wind” have the artist draw a picture. That’s what they’re good at.
Zero | Oct 18, 2007 | Reply
kataki pafatu leria zukamu fe.
Silly American kids…
LittleKnown | Oct 18, 2007 | Reply
Only a complete moron would believe this story. It’s not news, it’s fiction, pure and simple.
Craig | Oct 18, 2007 | Reply
ahem, satire.
john | Oct 18, 2007 | Reply
Good observation there craig, what you fail to realize is… thats the whole point. Sadly you lack the ability to see the humor in the piece.
Dr. Watson | Oct 18, 2007 | Reply
I wish I were Frunk.
Jenika | Oct 18, 2007 | Reply
Daniel Tosh did something like this in his comedy central presents sketch.
lars | Oct 18, 2007 | Reply
Might be fake but I was recently at a water park with my kids when a guy walks past with something in Chinese letters on his back. When the oriental people sitting next to us saw this they all began to point and laugh. I am too shy to ask what it meant but I bet it wasn’t what the guy thinks it is.
greg | Oct 18, 2007 | Reply
Makes me wonder if the ‘DWEEP’ tattoo i got on my arm really means ‘brave face with fierce heart’ in American
lee | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
hehehehehe very funny
gamer | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
This picture did it better
James | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Ohhhhhhhhhh my God! It is humour you thick twats!
BoyGenius | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Even though the story may be false, this really does happen. Hell if I was doing the tattoos I wouldn’t able to resist messing with the trendy assholes.
Dean | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Wow Craig! You are so smart! I wish I could be as insightful as you.
youareadummy | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
This was so well written. Loved the fact that people were confused as to if it’s a real story or not. I wouldn’t be surprised if this really does happen – have you seen some of the shirts with American sayings that are popular in Japan? What a great laugh! Thank you!
Mandi | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Haaahahahahaha xD
English just happened to be the worlds most spoken language so you better learn, dumbass.
'N Illemonatus | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Actually… the most spoken language is Chinese. The billion people there kinda outnumber the English speakers.
Kat | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
this is an interesting phoenom , I have met Tattoo artists in the states who use Chineese typography and have no idea what it really means, people please stick to Tweety Birds and peace signs, its universal and easily identifyable, whereas language might be misconceptualized and not understood well.
Eddie Starr | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Sheer brilliance. An excellent satire – you truly have a knack for writing.
Gave me a good laugh.
MoneyMoose | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
actually the most spoken language is not chinese its mandarin
amos | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
Hmmm, most spoken…
Can you really judge that by population?
Some people talk an awful lot.
ManyTreez | Oct 20, 2007 | Reply
Sounds like an attempt at satire, but I expect that the Chinese students are far, far more likely to speak (or at least read) “American” than any American getting a tattoo is to speak Chinese. That kinda ruined the satire for me — at least the Chinese reversal part.
nurbles | Oct 20, 2007 | Reply
Actually….Mandarin has the most native speakers. English is the most spoken language because a huge amount of people in the world speak their native language and then English. So, it’s hard to define which “has more speakers.” Around 2 billion people know how to speak English, but Mandarin (the predominant language of China with a billion speakers) has more native speakers.
Semantics ^^
caiti | Oct 20, 2007 | Reply
right you are, caiti. It’s not just the United States, it’s North America, a ot of South America, most of Europe etc. English is a common business language, And American kids generally only learn English. Actually, from what I see on the internet and around town, most kids do NOT have a grasp of English even.
yes | Oct 20, 2007 | Reply
ROFLMFAO!! I love it. Now I know why I will never add Asian language characters without one of my daughters who actually speak/read th elanguage writing it out for me!!
Fiona | Oct 20, 2007 | Reply
This is hilarious. Well done. I almost wish this was true because its so ridiculous
Crystal | Oct 20, 2007 | Reply
Pieces like this are great. What are the chances of “FRUNK” finding its way into the vernacular i.e. “That was very frunk of you” or “The Allied soldiers frunkly stormed the beach.”
Aaron | Oct 20, 2007 | Reply
My son had a Korean saying tatooed when he was in highschool which was supposed to mean “dangerous man”. Years later he dated a Japenese girl who said that in Japenese it translated to “abusive husband”.
Beau | Oct 20, 2007 | Reply
http://www.garf.org/
Tuzzu | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
So it seems that the world’s most common language is Malakia
Zorba | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
I always wondered how a young person – teenager/20 something – be so confident about getting a permanent tattoo. I certainly wasn’t ready to make any lifetime decisions at that age. I keep remembering Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton getting tattoos of each other’s names done. I suspect plastic surgery may have been required.
Jon | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
Yeah, I knew this story was fake when I realized that it was supposed to be Chinese teenagers getting tattoos on their skin. Everybody knows that Chinese people don’t have skin; their internal organs are held in place by heavy sheets of pure concentrated evil distilled from moldy old copies of Das Kapital. I saw it on the Discovery Channel, so it had to have been true.
John the Uneducated | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
You guys may laugh, but this story is 100% true. I looked into this sort of thing after getting my own tattoo from an utterly incompetent tattooist. I was going through a Nietzsche phase so decided to get a choice quote from one of his works tattooed on my chest in a Gothic script, in a semi-circle over my heart. I told the guy what I wanted, and alarm bells were ringing because he was slurring his words and seemed drunk, but I went ahead with it anyway. When he finished, I looked in the mirror and was nearly sick.
Now I’m saving up for laser surgery to remove the ‘God is dad’ emblazoned over my left nipple.
Be warned.
Garcia Lang | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
That’s hilarious!
Craven | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
Hey,
I wish this story was true, based on the other “news” on this site, this is defintely satire, very funny:
Rapper Shows Off His Two Affordable and Practical Vehicles on MTV Cribs
Photoshop Now Offers “Family Beach Photo” Generator
David Blaine Fails Latest Stunt!
Heidi | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
This is fiction? I honestly couldn’t tell, and I usually can. Why not, in this case? Because the American version, at least, is pretty dang accurate – I *know* people go to tattoo parlors, ask for Japanese characters, and don’t check what the characters actually mean. Thus, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised, given the Japanese America-mania mirroring our own Japan-mania, if this were real.
Brilliant satire – I’m still not convinced it’s fake, even being told explicitly!
neminem | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
This is EXACTLY the point I was trying to make to my nephew who, upon his 18th birthday got a tat on each forearm in chinese. One SUPPOSEDLY says “fighter spirit” and the other “pride”. What an idiot. Seriously, how much Chinese can some asshole in a TINY town really know? I hope they say something inspiring like “I’m a douche for getting this tattoo” and “I desperate for attention”.
Amy Sweet-Payne | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
Tattoos are meant to mark a special time or event in your life, I’m gonna get “DIPUTS” tatted across my forehead!
lollygag | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
i just knew from the picture.. it looks like some cheap wordart slapped in through photoshop.
Snickers | Oct 21, 2007 | Reply
Don’t ruin a good story with facts.
Bugsy | Oct 22, 2007 | Reply
LOL! these crazy kids!
You totally need to research any foreign language you get tatooed onto yourself…I got latin and it was hard enough trying to find someone fluent in it let alone have them try and figure out the sentence i wanted! but at least it means what i want it too!
Rachy | Oct 24, 2007 | Reply
Hey whats a good web site to go to get an accurate traslation of a symbol????
chris | Oct 24, 2007 | Reply
Great satire! Thanks for the laugh. I know a guy who got ‘Eli Eli Lama Sabacthani’ tattooed across his shoulders in beautiful flowing script. The spelling wasn’t even CLOSE, not even phonetically. I don’t know what that artist was high on when he took the job.
I don’t think my satire is quite as good as this, but it might give you a laugh. Check it out here: http://logicaficianado.blogspot.com.
Thanks again for the laugh!
eewestcoaster | Oct 24, 2007 | Reply
Ha ha ha, Craig’s retard comment might have been funnier than the entire article!
Dude, if you cant understand satire, well… maybe stick to printed word?
Daniel | Oct 25, 2007 | Reply
frrrrunnnnkissssss!!!!!!!!!!!
stephaknee | Oct 26, 2007 | Reply
This article and subsequent comments might serve as another sieve which separates those worthy of survival and those cast into the “nice but your journey ends here” bin.
Dr O | Oct 27, 2007 | Reply
frrrrunnnnkissssss!!!!!!!!!!! indeed.
nice, Stephaknee.
Jeff Lyons | Oct 27, 2007 | Reply
No, that’s DWEEB
Moss | Oct 27, 2007 | Reply
The most very spoken language is very turkish. it is very proven by the turkish scienctisits .. go and chekck for it please..
Baris | Nov 1, 2007 | Reply
Yes this is humor, but it would have been more believeable if the guy’s name was spelled as “Hao Zhang” instead of “Hao Tsang” – “Tsang” is not used in China as it’s not Hanyu Pinyin.
Ditto with “Mingmei Lee” – “Lee” isn’t hanyu pinyin. “Li” would have been more accurate.
Go learn some Mandarin, man..
No knowledge of Chinese | Nov 1, 2007 | Reply
haha, funny.
jad | Nov 1, 2007 | Reply
You should all go to http://www.engrish.com to see that this is ubiquitous in asia. “All trees and shrubs seem like the enemy”
Bigglen | Nov 1, 2007 | Reply
Some think this is bunk and that those who are getting these tattoos are stupid. Frankly, this is not bunk; Americans get ‘Asian smybols’ tattoed on themselves quite often. The craze has simply found its cultural opposite overseas.
I do agree though that everyone involved deserves what they get.
Spacemeat | Nov 1, 2007 | Reply
fake much?
illin | Nov 1, 2007 | Reply
A made-up retard. Its a satire article.
Kristina | Nov 2, 2007 | Reply
Gonna have ‘Craig’ tattooed on my forehead which actually means ‘narrow minded penis’ in Gonorrhean.
Marcacesmith | Nov 3, 2007 | Reply
While this story may not be true in the details (especially the part about Back Street boy). The reality is that people get tattooed with alien symbols without knowing the meeting. It’s bad enough when your artist just copys random characters from the Japanese section of his sound card’s manual. But that’s not the worst of it.
There was a black guy out there walking around with a swastika on his arm. It took months before someone told him what it meant, then he had to go back under the needle to turn it into a plus sign inside a box.
Forge | Nov 4, 2007 | Reply
%-) genuinely interested by this website
debt services | Nov 5, 2007 | Reply
HA HA HA!!! Stupid Japanese kids…..
Jeep | Nov 5, 2007 | Reply
This is hilarious. My two rules about tattoos: never get the name of your current significant other (bad luck), and never EVER get a tattoo that is in another language. The problem is people get them to be cool and they do not stand for to them. I have a tattoo of a baby angel on my right shoulder with my daughter’s name underneath because in everything I do, it is she who I think about because she will carry on through my example. She is my little angel and she always will be, even if she makes mistakes later down the road.
Corey | Nov 16, 2007 | Reply
ive actually seen a website entirely devoted to fakebrands from china like a pair of adidas shoes had “adodis” stitched on them and a guy purchased an iphone from china, turned it on, and “tphone” came up on the screen
random | Dec 3, 2007 | Reply
wow i grew up in america all my life never left it… and i have never said man your so frunk. infact i dont know anyone who has.
American | Dec 17, 2007 | Reply
Great piece.. but you’re telling me that my “GWEINsU” ink is totally bunk?
Eclectic | Jan 9, 2008 | Reply
cool
amber | Jan 22, 2008 | Reply
that was so cool
amber | Jan 22, 2008 | Reply
I love English! It’s easy to tell someone to, “Go to Hell.” and make them happy to be on heir way.
Alsatian Sage | Jan 29, 2008 | Reply
Pretty English words …
YBINGA … same acronym used in all three tenses.
You’ve been ignorant, now go away.
You’re being ignorant, now go away.
You’ll be ignorant, now go away.
I like printing this on business cards with check boxes next to each line adding at the bottom, “If all three boxes are checked, please do not return.”
Alsatian Sage | Jan 29, 2008 | Reply
that look very cool
Chinese translation | Feb 13, 2008 | Reply
Photoshopped!
ubersp00k | Jun 10, 2008 | Reply
Now I know what ugly people do on the internet. Thanks guys!
Grex The Malign | Jul 7, 2008 | Reply
Спасибочки автору. Возможно, в будущем я и на самом деле реализую подобную идею.
Степан Aгарков | Jul 30, 2008 | Reply
HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA
Better stick to your own culture.
I love those funny artists : D
Tony | Apr 21, 2009 | Reply