Chinese Youths Crazy for English Alphabet Tattoos

By on Oct 1, 2005 in News | 170 Comments

“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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  • Moss

    No, that’s DWEEB

  • Moss

    No, that’s DWEEB

  • http://www.tat.com.tr/ Baris

    The most very spoken language is very turkish. it is very proven by the turkish scienctisits .. go and chekck for it please..

  • http://www.tat.com.tr Baris

    The most very spoken language is very turkish. it is very proven by the turkish scienctisits .. go and chekck for it please..

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  • No knowledge of Chinese

    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

    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..

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  • Bigglen

    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

    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”

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  • Spacemeat

    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

    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.

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  • illin

    fake much?

  • illin

    fake much?

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  • Kristina

    A made-up retard. Its a satire article.

  • Kristina

    A made-up retard. Its a satire article.

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  • http://www.fineartworksuk.com/ Marcacesmith

    Gonna have ‘Craig’ tattooed on my forehead which actually means ‘narrow minded penis’ in Gonorrhean.

  • http://www.fineartworksuk.com Marcacesmith

    Gonna have ‘Craig’ tattooed on my forehead which actually means ‘narrow minded penis’ in Gonorrhean.

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  • Forge

    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

    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.

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  • Jeep

    HA HA HA!!! Stupid Japanese kids…..

  • Jeep

    HA HA HA!!! Stupid Japanese kids…..

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  • Corey

    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

    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.

  • random

    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

    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

  • American

    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

    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.

  • Eclectic

    Great piece.. but you’re telling me that my “GWEINsU” ink is totally bunk?

  • Eclectic

    Great piece.. but you’re telling me that my “GWEINsU” ink is totally bunk?

  • http://yahoo.com/ amber

    cool

  • http://yahoo.com amber

    cool

  • http://yahoo.com/ amber

    that was so cool

  • http://yahoo.com amber

    that was so cool

  • Alsatian Sage

    I love English! It’s easy to tell someone to, “Go to Hell.” and make them happy to be on heir way.

  • Alsatian Sage

    I love English! It’s easy to tell someone to, “Go to Hell.” and make them happy to be on heir way.

  • Alsatian Sage

    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

    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.”

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