Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share The Craziest Tattoo Mistranslations They've Ever Seen

People Share The Craziest Tattoo Mistranslations They've Ever Seen
Image by Tú Anh from Pixabay
Make us preferred on Google

Language appropriation is not wise on many levels.

For one thing, pictorial languages generally can ascribe several meanings to one picture. For another, sometimes a slight misprint or or change to the characters changes the word completely.

And then you're stuck putting your foot in your mouth forever when you decide to get that misprint tattooed.


u/10s10ahad asked:

People who understand Chinese/Japanese, what's the dumbest thing you've seen tattooed on someone?

Here were some of the answers.


Definitely Grand

Dude was so proud of his grandson that he had a tattoo that said "I love my grandson"

Except I'm guessing everyone just googled "I love my grand son" because it came out reading "I love fat boys."

Whoops

MisterComrade

Nom Nom Nom

I have the characters for Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gow) tattooed on me. I knowingly did this, because I'm half Chinese and love shrimp dumplings.

I had a chinese girl ask me if I knew what it meant and I laughed and said of course, I love dumplings.

My chinese mother was not impressed but then laughed and said it was very me.

dayracoon

Labeling

I noticed some random white guy with some interesting tattoos (I think it was in an amusement park) and then got a little excited to see Korean tattoos, which You rarely ever see. They were written vertically on his each of his calves. One said left leg, the other said right leg.

Dumb and pretty cool.

ihaveiphone

Not Quite

Once when I was in university, working at a shop, a very fat lady came in with the kanji for "large" tattooed on her shoulder blade. I politely complimented her tattoo and asked what it meant. She said it meant "sassy".

prop-girl-3000

Dumplings Are Two For Two

I don't know if this was stupid or brilliant but someone had "您有小龍湯圓嗎?"which is respectfully asking if they had soup dumplings. I thought it was really stupid until someone said that they must really like soup dumplings...

1n1billionAZNsay

Beef Cake

Seen a few over the years but one that I remember most was when I first started learning Mandarin.

The guy had a tattoo on the back of his leg that proudly said 牛肉 which means beef.

komnenos

Could Still Be Apt

Japanese speaker here. Guy had one that read "トン勝" Someone told him that トン (Ton) means pig and 勝 (katsu) means to win. He thought that putting them together means to win against pigs (police?) とんかつ Tonkatsu means pork cutlet. I didn't have the heart to tell him.

RyuuAraragi

You Need Some Ice For That Self-Burn?

Not my story but a friend of mine:

She could read kanji and was in class one day noticing this girl's tattoo for the first time. Confused she inquired about it:

"What does your tattoo say?"

"High princess"

Turns out it actually said pig princess.

whereegosdare84

Doit

It always cracks me up to see people with single characters tattooed on themselves, especially characters for the natural elements. I imagine the same tattoo except it says "dirt" in plain english, and it makes me laugh.

ebitdaddy_

"Only Joking"

I met a girl when I was backpacking in China who knowingly had the characters for "prostitute" tattooed on her hip - she thought it was funny, and the only people who saw it would be ones she chose to show it to.

The Chinese guy who was drinking with us in the hostel was horrified, and suggested that she get another tattoo underneath which said "only joking".

SilentSamamander

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

'The Craft' cast, including Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Rachel True and Neve Campbell
Columbia Pictures/Getty Images

'The Craft' Star Speaks Out After New Bratz Dolls Were Sent To Influencers But Not Original Cast

Bratz enthusiasts have a lot to be excited about right now, as a new collection of the dolls have rolled out, this time inspired specifically by the original cast of the 1996 horror film The Craft, from which Bratz dolls came to be.

But just because it's an exciting campaign doesn't mean it's perfect.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trick-or-treating
The Boston Globe/Getty Images

HOA Sparks Debate After Sending Letter Telling People Not To Hand Out Full-Size Candy Bars On Halloween

Within our communities, it's important to make everyone feel welcome and included, and sometimes that means making changes so that everyone can afford to be included. But sometimes changes are made simply because someone with the power to change it doesn't want to do something.

The question is whether changes are being made for inclusivity or convenience.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @serena_loscalzo's TikTok
@serena_loscalzo/TikTok

College President Goes Above And Beyond To Help Student Prank Her Chronically Oversleeping Roommate

University of Vermont President Marlene Tromp and UVM student Hannah Lapier have gone viral after their fabulous wake-up call—and fortunately not the negative, reality-check kind!

Lapier opened up to her roommate, Serena LoScalzo, about struggling to get out of bed in the morning for her classes. Lapier prompted her friend to use any means necessary to help her make it to her morning classes on time, because she wanted to take school seriously.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @itsvictoriavega's TikTok
@itsvictoriavega/TikTok

Woman Sounds Off About 'Worst First Date Of My Life' After Guy Made Truly Unhinged Request

There are bad first dates, there are the worst first dates ever, and then there are the dates that are so terrible, you can't help but wonder how they occurred in the first place.

TikToker Victoria Vega, for example, went on a first date with a guy after what she thought was a promising start, but when she actually went on the date, it was nothing like she'd expected. In fact, she called it the worst first date of her life.

Keep ReadingShow less
TikToker Kae; Walmart storefront
@lolxdlolxdlolxd23455/TikTok; Douglas Rissing/Getty Images

Fired TikToker Shares Bonkers Behind-The-Scene Stories About What It Was Like Working At Walmart

Whether or not we've ever worked there, we've all heard horror stories and seen internet memes about "people at Walmart" and the weird things that often happen within the oversized chain convenience store.

TikToker Kae, or @lolxdlolxdlolxd23455 on the platform, worked at Walmart for more than six months and ultimately was fired because he'd accidentally logged his PTO time incorrectly and also requested multiple days off,—but he'd intended to quit anyway given his unpleasant time working there.

Keep ReadingShow less