tattoos

[fawkes]

Well, my sister has one, my mom is getting one, so why not? I was thinking about this for me:

Probably on my left shoulder (around the front), below the collar bone.
So how about you all? Any tattooed folks here? Come on, show me your tats!

[wizzard]

What's it say?

If I was ever going to get a tattoo, it would have to be something extremely meaningful for me, probably something connected to my family.

[Nova]

if i ever got a tattoo i think it would either be 42 or a dragon. my sister and i often talk about where we would get a 42 tattoo. haha

[Jayelle]

Is that the chinese symbol for "originality"?

[zeroguy]

(This is longer than I originally intended; sorry, just kinda got going once I started looking.)

The second character is 静, which means quiet, gentle, or still.

I'm not sure what the first one is (assuming this is a Chinese character, are you sure that's correct?). The closest I can get is either 苧 (a type of chinese grass, I think?), 宇 (a building, or eaves), 庁 (hall or central room), or 佇 (wait; look forwards; turn one's back on). This last one, though, combined with the second character, (that is, 佇静) means "appearing/being gentle/calm/etc", I think. So, it might mean something like that.

The first symbol also looks like just a combination of 宀 (roof) and 丁 (male, or vigorous), so maybe it means "vigorous roof", and with all the symbols together means.... a vigorous, yet gentle, roof?

Or, since 静 is also a Chinese surname, at this point I'm guessing it's just your name in Chinese.

[mr_thebrain]

i have the cantonese for jesus on my left shoulder/arm area. though it has more of a special meaning/reminder for me. i forget that it's there now and then. but i'm always glad that i got it.

say what you want about chinese symbol tattoos, but sometimes they aren't chosen because they are popular. and really if you get a tattoo, you shouldn't care what other people think about the tattoo.

the number 42 would be a great tat.

[Claire]

I would never ever ever get a tattoo. Its way too permanent for me, and I tend to think they look tacky, especially as one gets older.

[Young Val]

i have a celtic spiral (specifically a triskel) the size of a quarter on my inner on my inner left ankle. it means "peace on the creative journey" and in addition to being part of my family heritage has loads of personal significance for me.

i don't think i'll get any others though.

[Petra456]

I've been considering one for about a year now. I went with a friend to get his first tattoo a couple weeks ago, and now I think i'm ready to actually get it done.

I just have to think of something worth getting.

[fawkes]

(This is longer than I originally intended; sorry, just kinda got going once I started looking.)

The second character is 静, which means quiet, gentle, or still.

I'm not sure what the first one is (assuming this is a Chinese character, are you sure that's correct?). The closest I can get is either 苧 (a type of chinese grass, I think?), 宇 (a building, or eaves), 庁 (hall or central room), or 佇 (wait; look forwards; turn one's back on). This last one, though, combined with the second character, (that is, 佇静) means "appearing/being gentle/calm/etc", I think. So, it might mean something like that.

The first symbol also looks like just a combination of 宀 (roof) and 丁 (male, or vigorous), so maybe it means "vigorous roof", and with all the symbols together means.... a vigorous, yet gentle, roof?

Or, since 静 is also a Chinese surname, at this point I'm guessing it's just your name in Chinese.

It is Chinese, and it's the symbol for "Serenity". I actually pulled it from a Firefly-related package. It's a kit ot make a Jayne hat. Anyway, I chose this because it's something geeky, but it's also meaningful without the geeky connotations. As far as I know it's correct. After all, it's on Serenity (the ship), but I also looked it up just through a Chinese character library.

[zeroguy]

It is Chinese, and it's the symbol for "Serenity". I actually pulled it from a Firefly-related package. It's a kit ot make a Jayne hat. Anyway, I chose this because it's something geeky, but it's also meaningful without the geeky connotations. As far as I know it's correct. After all, it's on Serenity (the ship), but I also looked it up just through a Chinese character library.

Yeah, it's correct. Sorry, for some reason the kanji database I was looking in doesn't have that particular character (but oddly it does have its traditional equivalent 寧).

[fawkes]

I did it! I'm inked! Pictures to follow.

[mr_thebrain]

congrats! don't forget sunscreen! or aloe. whatever, just keep it moisturized and don't pick at the scab.

[Jebus]

Is that the chinese symbol for "originality"?

Winner.

[Jayelle]

I think I was channelling you there, Jeebs.

[fawkes]

I got tired of waiting for my dad to e-mail me a picture, so here's one I took myself:

Also, look what I found: http://www.bmeink.com/A21018/high/kqsyl0is.jpg

[eriador]

I thought that dragon was orange and grey, not black and red, but I don't have EG to check

[zeroguy]

Dragon's color code was gray-orange-gray, but I don't think that necessarily means anything about their logo coloring.

And looks nice, BAG. Was the person doing this just going by an image you gave, or are they actually into eastern calligraphy?

[fawkes]

A little of both. I used the picture at the top as a reference, but she's the go-to guy for caligraphy, so it turned out really well.

[Luet]

You guys have all seen the army motifs here, right?

http://www.cafepress.com/hatrackriver

The army shirts were available at EnderCon. My brother still wears his Dragon Army one all the time.

[Virlomi]

Kind of in love with you a little bit, Jan.

I doubt I ever will, but if I did, it would be the golden ratio. Very small.

[anonshadow]

It is Chinese, and it's the symbol for "Serenity". I actually pulled it from a Firefly-related package. It's a kit ot make a Jayne hat. Anyway, I chose this because it's something geeky, but it's also meaningful without the geeky connotations. As far as I know it's correct. After all, it's on Serenity (the ship), but I also looked it up just through a Chinese character library.

Yeah, it's correct. Sorry, for some reason the kanji database I was looking in doesn't have that particular character (but oddly it does have its traditional equivalent 寧).

This is because traditional beats the hell out of simplified every time.

Beyond that, never try to interpret characters based on the different parts of them--at least, not unless you're really familiar with the language. The different parts of a character definitely contribute to the meaning, but not in the same way it would in English. For example, the word for good--好--contains the character for "woman" and the character for "son." However, to break that down to "woman's son" would be incorrect--the rationale, instead, is that a woman having a son is a good thing.

[zeroguy]

Beyond that, never try to interpret characters based on the different parts of them--at least, not unless you're really familiar with the language. The different parts of a character definitely contribute to the meaning, but not in the same way it would in English. For example, the word for good--好--contains the character for "woman" and the character for "son." However, to break that down to "woman's son" would be incorrect--the rationale, instead, is that a woman having a son is a good thing.

I was breaking down by character. 好 is a single character, which contains the radicals for "woman" and "son" (or "child", really). [Edit: I just re-read what I originally posted, and actually, yeah, I did try to break down an individual character; oops. Yeah, I realize that it almost always doesn't work like that, but sometimes radicals can give indication, so it could have. I was just exploring all possibilities.]

And hey, I thought I didn't do all that bad, for edumacated-guessing. My best guess was "appearing/being gentle/calm", which is pretty darn close to "serenity".

[Dr. Mobius]

Beyond that, never try to interpret characters based on the different parts of them--at least, not unless you're really familiar with the language. The different parts of a character definitely contribute to the meaning, but not in the same way it would in English. For example, the word for good--好--contains the character for "woman" and the character for "son." However, to break that down to "woman's son" would be incorrect--the rationale, instead, is that a woman having a son is a good thing.

On a hunch, would the word for bad contain the characters for woman and daughter?

[anonshadow]

No. There is no real word for "bad" in the way you're talking about (although there are several words that mean evil or wicked). To say bad, you say "不 好."

And, zeroguy: 子 means son. It can mean child, but it's generally only used in if you don't know the gender of the child, and that's because they're assuming that the child is male. Daughter is 女兒, son is 兒子, or 子. And don't worry; I know what radicals are. I've studied this language for three years and counting. Your guess wasn't bad, but breaking down characters is always a bad idea. The individual components can add to sound or to meaning; 媽媽, for example, means mother. The first component means woman, as we all know: the second comes from 嗎, which is what you add onto the end of a statement to make it a question. 媽媽 is pronounced ma1ma1, and the question particle is pronounced ma. So 女 is indicating that it has something to do with women, but 嗎 indicates pronunciation (as the pronunciation for 女 is nü3).

[zeroguy]

And, zeroguy: 子 means son. It can mean child, but it's generally only used in if you don't know the gender of the child, and that's because they're assuming that the child is male.

In Chinese, perhaps. I meant the character itself, without respect to language [Edit: I'm mostly going by Unihan here]. I am certainly in no position to make an irrefutable argument about it, but as far as my understanding goes, it is used for both in Japanese. It may have a bias to default to male if unknown (as seems to be the case with most if not all languages), but it's certainly used for females in 女子 and 女の子 at least.

And yes, I wasn't doubting you knew what radicals are, nor was I trying to make it sound like I knew more than you (I can tell you right now, I have next to no formal education of any Eastern language). When I originally replied, I thought I hadn't actually dissected a single character into radicals, when I did. So, it just looked like you had somehow confused a single character for two characters. But that was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I didn't want to get into a fight or anything, but it certainly has been educational for all.

Oh, and by the way: Chinese looks... um, tough. I mean, I've always known it was somewhat difficult (all those freaky pitches and symbols), but that post certainly reinforced that. My hat is off to you for your continued studies.

[anonshadow]

Oh, but it doesn't involve conjugations at all. It's wonderful. As far as the character itself goes, though, as it's from Serenity, and they speak Mandarin in Firefly, it's safe to assume the Chinese meaning.

Edit: Of course, if you think that it's hard based on that post, what do you think about the fact that you need to memorize stroke order for each character? You can't do it in just any order. It's uncultured. You're basically illiterate if you do that.

[Seiryu]

I don't know if I could get a tattoo or not. I've got this weird skin thing on the place I want it. I have all these weird red bumps on my arm that's called Keratosis Pilaris. With all the bumps, I'd assume it wouldn't look right or would be hard to do. If I could get one, though, I'd like a snake-like dragon with a more European design to it.

[Rei]

I do remember that in Japanese it was always used in reference to "child" and we were never given the slightest implication that there were male connotations. But that is Japanese and not Chinese.

[zeroguy]

As far as the character itself goes, though, as it's from Serenity, and they speak Mandarin in Firefly, it's safe to assume the Chinese meaning.

Ah, didn't know that.

Edit: Of course, if you think that it's hard based on that post, what do you think about the fact that you need to memorize stroke order for each character? You can't do it in just any order. It's uncultured. You're basically illiterate if you do that.

Japanese has that, too, I believe, as do all languages that use the Chinese characters (but the general (flexible) rules of stroke order are the same/similar, are they not?). But at least you have the option of spelling something out phonetically if the Chinese symbol for it is esoteric or overly complex... but in Chinese it's symbols for everything! Gah!

Perhaps I should stop making off-topic posts.

[Dr. Mobius]

Meh, I have enough problems with our own language and alphabet.

[Young Val]

Oh, but it doesn't involve conjugations at all. It's wonderful. As far as the character itself goes, though, as it's from Serenity, and they speak Mandarin in Firefly, it's safe to assume the Chinese meaning.

Edit: Of course, if you think that it's hard based on that post, what do you think about the fact that you need to memorize stroke order for each character? You can't do it in just any order. It's uncultured. You're basically illiterate if you do that.

i think that's so incredibly fascinating. i long dearly to be multi-lingual, but for some reason i just cannot absorb written and spoken foreign languages. eight years of french and i can speak like a five year old, comprehend like, perhaps, a dog, and i can read at maybe a 3rd grade level! it's appalling. oh, and my pronunciation is horrid.


i do, for some reason, excel at ASL. i think it must register in some other part of the brain.

[BonitoDeMadrid]

Damn, by the look of this topic, Chinese, Cantonese and Japanese is incredibly difficult..

I dunno if I could get a tattoo. I'm scared of needles and I don't want the pain (also the reason why I can't have earrings, piercing, or something else), and it just doesn't seem important enough...

...But, if I were to get a tattoo, it would be something small and nice, probably the universal peace sign (which I can't remember right now -_-) or a middle finger. ^^

[anonshadow]

Japanese has that, too, I believe, as do all languages that use the Chinese characters (but the general (flexible) rules of stroke order are the same/similar, are they not?). But at least you have the option of spelling something out phonetically if the Chinese symbol for it is esoteric or overly complex... but in Chinese it's symbols for everything! Gah!

The general rules are the same, yeah. After three years, if you gave me a character I didn't know and told me to guess at the stroke order, I could probably either get it completely right or be only a little off.

[anonshadow]

Damn, by the look of this topic, Chinese, Cantonese and Japanese is incredibly difficult..

Cantonese is Chinese. "Chinese" two written languages: traditional characters and simplified characters. The simplified characters are supposed to raise literacy, because they're easier to learn; I have always learned traditional, and generally think that simplified characters are stupid. It's also worth pointing out that it's much easier to go from traditional to simplified--that is, for people who can read traditional to learn to read simplified, or even to simply reason it out without formal education--than it is to go from simplified to traditional. However, that's only the written: "Chinese" as a spoken language includes hundreds of different dialects, most of which are completely unintelligible to someone not also fluent in that dialect. The most common are Mandarin, Wu, Min, and Cantonese. In the Western world, it is likely that any spoken Chinese you have heard in Mandarin or Cantonese. I speak Mandarin; to learn to speak Cantonese, I would have to learn it in the same way that I would have to learn Japanese. The only ways in which I would be helped are that I can already write it and that I can deal with all the tonal stuff; otherwise, it's a completely different language. It's easier to understand Spanish if all you speak is English than it is to understand Cantonese if all you speak is Mandarin (or vice versa).