I Think We’ve All Learned an Important Lesson
Last week we teamed up with our friends over at Engrish Funny and asked you guys to send us your reverse-Engrish tattoos, and you didn’t let us down! We had them translated by the lovely and talented Ellyn Henriksen, who is now considering getting “WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!!” tattooed onto her neck. Sorry about that, Ellyn.
Here are some of our favorite entries. Drop by Engrish Funny today to see more tattoos, and all kinds of other insanity.
Stacy H. got this tattoo eleven years ago with her BFF, hoping that it meant “sisters” (side note: tattoos about sisters will forever send a chill down my spine). Unfortunately, the characters are backwards. Were they correct, the tat would say “mei mei,” or “little sister.” Close, Stacy, but no cigar.
Ellyn suggests that you change it to “xiao mei mei,” or “little little sister,” which is slang for vagina. Ellyn is kind of a sicko.
Stephanie N. sent us this picture with no explanation (or warning. Thanks, Steph!). The tattoo means “friend.” Shouldn’t that be “little friend?” Someone get this guy a “xiao.” It’s on me.
The owner of this tattoo, submitted to us by Kristin G., wants you to know that she is a “drunk slut.” She came close, as this tattoo says “drunk whore.” However, our translator points out that “slut” and “whore” are not used interchangeably in Chinese, so rather than suggesting promiscuity, it reads more like “drunk woman who takes money for sex.”
Am I the only one who’s starting to like this girl?
Thanks so much to everyone who sent in pictures. If you don’t see one of your body parts here, you can breathe a sigh of relief, because it probably means that your tattoo doesn’t say “Napalm frittata” or “spaghetti fucker.” Congrats! Duplicate gratitudeness to Ellyn and Engrish Funny. I’ve already got an appointment to get your names inked onto my shoulder blades in Japanese. They should already have flash art of “Engrish Funny” written in Kanji, right?
sorry, but none of these are funny at all. i was looking forward to this post, what a disappointment!
the only one i (slightly) approve of is the last one. overall, i hate kanji tattoos, but if you’re gonna get something like “drunk slut” inked on your body, it should be in a form that allows you to tell people it means something entirely different when you get older.
the needlepoint guy is just scary.
Nah, he’s HOT! I love the red body hair and freckles. I’m not joking!
I think the needlepoint guy is letting us know what his next tattoo is going to look like!
The middle one of the guy ‘hanging out’ is grammatically awkward. Typically you would write “peng you” 朋 友 for friend. Good job buddy. I agree with steph, that it should be 我的 小朋友 （my little friend)
I think it’s “friend” as in, he’s gay. The “dick as drug” thing plays more in that light, than with blog posters who think he’s trying to pick up chicks. Though, painfully deluded guys (and girls) ARE the order of the day.
It took me a second to realize the dude in the 2nd one isn’t my friend’s brother.
He and a buddy got what they assumed meant “friend love” on their chests (left side/over heart, naturally) but asked an actual Chinese man a few years later and found out it means love, but in a sexual manner.
Another good one I’ve seen came out of the tattoo shop I work at. This dude came in and knowingly got the symbol for diarreah on the back of his neck.
Classy.
Wish I had seen this in time to submit mine. I have a Kanji tattoo on the back of my neck after a night of drunken debauchery and sadly I’m not entirely sure of its meaning
the guy with ‘friend’ inked on his chest should have it changed to “小弟弟” or “little brother”, a common nickname for penis in china and taiwan. 小 being the operative word.
Also disappointed with this post =(
^ who cares what it says, you are a drunk slut regardless of what it says…I for one appreciate these tattoos, that serve as warnings to anyone foolish enough to come close to losers like this.
Everyone’s a critic. Christ.
Here’s the explanation. I was creeping on Flickr, found some lady with raunchy needlepoints, one of which included her ginger boyfriend with the gaijin tattoo. I had no idea what it meant, but hey. I figured someone must translate it for the contest. And I was right.
If “Drunk Whore” is a girl, she certainly has quite a narrow waist to hips ratio.
OMG! That it totally a guy. I now seriously love this tattoo.
I really don’t understand why english speaking people insist on getting Kanji tattoos!!!
I never understood why english speaking people got chinese or japanese characters tattooed on their bodies it is really really stupid and i hate them
Western people get Kanji tattoos because they are symbols in ways that phonetic characters just are not. All types of symbols are popular in tattooing.
Besides that, there is the allure of the ‘exotic’. I’ve seen a lot of runic tattoos as well. The artistic scripts for Kanji is much greater than can normally be accomplished with phonetic script as well.
Now, I don’t have any tattoos, but I can’t say that Kanji tattoos are inherently stupid. Overused and very, very often stupid, yes. But then again, so is Wile E. Coyote.