Tattoos are one of those things that, while they technically can be removed, are a pretty permanent decision to make.
After all, it's on your body, and depending on where it's placed, not only will other people see it, but they'll assume that it's highly representative of some aspect of your personality.
While some people do not think tattoos are that serious, we can all agree that tattoo errors are still pretty embarrassing.
Redditor hotsexydinosaur asked:
"What's the dumbest thing you've ever seen tattooed on someone?"
Beware The Poisonous Fish
"I saw a girl with 魚 tattooed on her shoulder who swore up and down it meant poison... It means fish."
- RadiantSymphony
"This sounds like a French joke..."
"'Les poissons, les poissons! How I LOVE les poissons!'"
- shugersugar
"Oh d**n, yeah, that's definitely how this mistake happened. She probably can't spell and Googled 'poisson in Chinese' instead of 'poison in Chinese,' and it gave her 'fish' from French to Chinese instead of 'poison' from English to Chinese. Classic."
- narniasreal
"This reminds me of the woman who wanted the character for 'Free' on her lower back (like... freedom), but as anyone who doesn't take five minutes to Google deserves, she got the character for 'No Charge' instead... on her lower back... Yeah."
- Buttonskill
The Worst 'Your Mom' Joke Of All Time
"My dad tattooed his high school girlfriend's name on his arm and later covered it up with a naked woman when they split."
- jugtooter
"Is the naked woman your mom?"
- FirstPrizeChisel
"You might've thrown the OP into an existential crisis."
- OddEpisode
Two For The Show
"I have two stories. Both were witnessed while I was working in surgery."
"The first woman apologized for her tattoos before going under anesthesia. She's asleep, we get her positioned (it was a vaginal procedure), and right on top of her mons pubis was 'EAT FRESH.' And yes, it was even in the Subway font."
"The second woman had lost a bunch of weight and was getting a tummy tuck. She had this weird tattoo of a s**tty little cartoon cowboy on her lower abdomen and hip. By the time the surgeon had cut off all the excess skin and sewed her back up, all that was left was the hat."
- COOLDOC
"The first one had me laughing so hard, I disturbed my cats."
- Coffeezilla
"The woman in the second story needs to have the phrase 'Happy Trails' or 'So long, Partner' tattooed next to the hat now, lol (laughing out loud)."
- Rich-Employ-3071
"Or, 'F**k, quicksand!'"
- Fit-Tip-1212
True North
"He had a tattoo of a compass and said, 'I got it done so it’s always showing true north.'"
"I asked, 'Wouldn’t that change depending on what direction you’re facing?'"
"He said, 'No, true north is always the same.'"
"I tried explaining what I meant and he couldn’t understand."
- w4rlok94
"I almost want a compass tattoo just to f**k with people like this. I know better, but this is absolutely the sort of dumb joke I love to make."
- LevelStudent
The Exception To The Rule
"It said, 'Love me or hate me, just EXCEPT me' instead of 'accept.' In all caps like I typed."
"Not one single person she showed afterward caught the mistake, and I didn’t have the heart to point it out."
- karmagill
"That's so said. Imagine having a typo permanantly on you're buddy."
- ThePurityPixel
"I want you to know how much pain you just caused me. Deep, abiding pain."
- LuckyHarmony
Just In Case She Forgets
"A chick I know debated between getting her own name and her kid's name tattooed on her forearm. She chose her own name."
- Prollynotafed
"It's so she won't forget."
- peachesfordinner
Your Name Here
"A couple of guys I knew at Basic Training got 'Your Name' tattooed on their butt cheeks so that they could go up to random people and say, 'Hey, I got your name tattooed on my a**' and then pull down their pants."
- Visual-Lobster6625
"I actually have a 'Your name' tattoo, but it's a bit deeper than just a joke."
"A friend of mine passed away eight years ago. It hit everyone very hard, as you can imagine. We had a friend group of about six guys, including him, who listened a lot to Dropkick Murphys at the time."
"One of the guys suggested we get his name tattooed in a rose tattoo, like the song by Dropkick Murphys' 'Rose Tattoo.' I don't like getting names tattooed, so I suggested something that would just symbolize the time we had together. Then I realized that the lyrics go, 'I have your name written here, in a rose tattoo.'"
"And that's the story of how I got a cringy mainstream tattoo that I will never regret and will love forever."
"His name was Todd and he was a f**king legend."
- Potatopirat
It's The Thought That Counts
"My ex's family all went to Thailand for a family holiday and decided to get matching tattoos."
"They asked for the word, 'Family,' in Thai. They were all so excited until they got back and a Thai friend of mine explained to them that it says, 'Handbag.'"
- Intelligent_Sock_799
Always Punny
"When all of the Latin sayings were a big deal with my friends, I got, 'SEMPER UBI SUB UBI' tattooed. It means, 'Always wear underwear.' It’s a Latin pun."
"It’s very dumb, and frankly, I don’t regret it."
- Soft_Delivery_3889
...Excuse Me?
"My youngest brother's girlfriend has her children's names tattooed on her. No issue with that. It's the fact that her youngest son has his name misspelled (Braidon instead of Brandon)."
"When I asked her about it, she said she had no idea how to spell her son's name. Just... Wow."
- Ohnoherewego13
A Physical Track Record
"When I worked at Electronics Boutique back in the 90s, there was this one redneck lady who would come in like once a month with a different redneck beau. And on her left arm, she had tattooed the names of the dudes she dated, each time with the previous one crossed out. Each time she came in with a new dude, there was a new name and another one crossed out."
- wilkc
"The new 'Sims' expansion is coming with a tattoo like this, and I was literally looking at it the other day, thinking it would be wild if someone did that in real life."
- thursdaysbees
Very Simple
"I did some training with a group of people. One girl has a Chinese tattoo on the back of her neck. A Chinese girl in the class saw it and laughed."
"A conversation came around about how the wearer thought it said, 'Strength.'"
"What it said was, 'Simplified Chinese.'"
- Hiding_From_Stupid
"And here I thought my 'big dumb white guy' t-shirt was bad (in hiragana)."
"I am a big white guy and I thought it was hilarious. I still think it's hilarious, especially watching people double-take and then try to work out whether I know what it says."
- 17HappyWombats
Pay Up, Bro
"A man got a food company’s logo tattooed on his forehead for a cash prize, only to find out it was an April Fools’ Day prank."
- NothingOk648
"I read about that one. They paid out. It was my understanding it was advertised both in person and on the radio, he went and did it, and they tried the whole, 'Nah, bro, it was just a prank.'"
"But you can't do that s**t. You advertise something like that, you follow through."
- Foodwithfloyd
Make It Make Sense
"My friend got a whiskey bottle on his thigh and then decided to stop drinking. He also has never really liked whiskey??"
"It was his first tattoo, too. He's one of those guys where you see it and him and go, 'Ah, yeah, that makes sense.' Lol (laughing out loud), I love the boy to pieces, but he is a great source of entertainment for me."
- Shrekspapa9250
Face Your Fears
"It’s not dumb. But it’s silly. A friend has a gluten and dairy intolerance. And they have an angry slice of Bread and an angry milk carton on them."
- OkTiger8853
"Okay, hear me out. I love it."
- ifyouburger
From hilarious and self-deprecating humor to downright embarrassing, there's a wide range of tattoos here that could easily leave people debating whether or not they'd ever be willing to put that on their bodies.
But at the end of the day, it's each person's body and each person's choice, and what might make someone happy to look at every day might make someone else cringe. You never really know!
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