from: Ken W.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sun, Oct 24, 2010 at 10:53 PM
subject: tattoo translation

Hi Tian,

I love your blog, and I was wondering if you could translate what I got tattooed on my arm some years back. Thanks a lot.



莾 is antiquated version of 莽, which means dense growth of bush or rash.

from: Lucy
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 6:11 PM
subject hanzismatter - medical insurance notice

Hi,

Attached is a notice sent by the medical insurance carrier called Aetna. I'm almost sure the Chinese section is illegible unless Aetna is using some kind of crazy font.

Can you please shed some light on what's going on?

Thank you.

Regards,
Lucy


(full size view)

The Chinese text section does appear to be jumbled either from poor printing process or incorrect font.

from: Anna H.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 8:51 AM

Hello, long time reader and fan of your blog. I just came across this, and I smell bullsh*t.

http://www.makeyourownjeans.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=21_27_129

Anyway, go nuts :)



Alan and I briefly browsed through the website mentioned above and "Kemuri" section. We can't believe some place is seriously using the Gibberish Chinese Font as is! We will be on the lookout for gullible customers with embroidered butts.

What a bunch of idiots.

from: Karl B.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 3:34 AM
subject: Restaurant sign

Hi,
There's a sushi restaurant in Stockholm with this sign which is obviously not japanese, but even in chinese it doesn't *appear* to say anything coherent. Care to shed any light on it, despite it not being a tattoo?

- Karl




定価 = listing price
中 = within
低 = lower
冬季 = winter
大人 = adult
千円 = thousand yen
村 = village
高 = higher
内線 = inner line
年賀 = new year's greeting

from: Samantha M.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 2:00 AM
subject: My tattoo

Could you tell me what this means? I was young and dumb and was told it meant "Power" Thank you

Sami




權 should have two 口, instead of solid squares.

from: Chris S.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 9:49 PM
subject: Tattoo Translation

Hello

My uncle just got this Tattoo and I was curious to know what it says. I'm hoping he didn't get tricked and got something ridiculous.

from Chris S.



Similar tattoo with same mistake was posted here in July.

棺材佬 means "coffin man".

However, the middle character of 木見才 or 木貝才 does not exist in Chinese character list.

from: Gary B.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 1:59 PM
subject: Tattoo translation help

Hey

Lovin' your blog.

I got my tattoo aged 17 and it means a lot to me as it's meant to be the initials of people who are important to me, but I fear that I may well have been tattooed by someone who didn't actually know what they were talking about. It's meant to read:

JSG
PB
R

I know now that the Chinese alphabet doesn't have these letters, so I'm not hopeful, but intrigued to know what it means.

Many thanks for your help, it's really appreciated.

Gary



Another sucker of the gibberish font.

from: Lisa R.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 12:33 PM
subject: Tattoo Translation

My sister got this tattoo on her arm about ten years ago. It is supposed to mean "warrior" but we both highly doubt that that's what it means. Could you shed some light? We'd love to know what it REALLY says!

Thanks.

Lisa



滝 [たき] 1: waterfall; 2: rapids

from: Kfir F.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sun, Oct 17, 2010 at 11:36 PM
subject: Tattoo translation

Hi Tian,

I have a friend from work who has a tattoo on his arm. Since I knew about your blog I tried taking a pic of it & check with you if he really knows the meaning of what he has or not. He said it's written in Chinese and it says something like - there's nothing like mom.

Thanks a lot & love your blog.

Kfir



The first character does not exist in written Chinese. However, there is one character 冇 only exists in written Cantonese, which means "not have". Of course, that is not what has been tattooed here.

Tattoo does not mean "there is nothing like mom", rather "not have the likeness of my mother".

from: Rok P.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 2:07 AM
subject: tattoo translation

Hey,

any chance you could translate what my sister just got tattooed on her neck?

It's supposed to be something in the lines of "as long as I breathe, I hope"

Thank you,

Rok



The five characters do not have same poetic meaning as she hoped. Rather, they are "living", "air", & "love".


Cracked.com recently had an article titled "5 Examples of Americans Thinking Foreign People Are Magic", and its intro to #2 was:


You know how it's been trendy for a while for white Americans to get Chinese or Japanese characters -- sorry, "Hanzi" or "Kanji" -- as tattoos? The idea seems to be that if you get the English words "STRONG" or "BEAUTIFUL" tattooed on your arm, you look like a bragging retard, but if you get it in Japanese, it is suddenly meaningful.

from: Matthew L.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 4:03 PM
subject: This Tattoo...

Hey Tian,

One of my coworkers has this tattoo on her wrist which she had done in Bali. She thinks it says the following:

1. live your dreams (Tailand)
2. just fucking dance (China)
3. let nature take it's course (Burma)
4. actions/protest (Bali)

Your thoughts?

Thanks.



顺其自然, without that extra piece in the middle, would mean "to let nature take its course."

Besides the terrible calligraphy, what a group of hodgepodge text.

The six tattooed characters are from an advertisement flyer for Sakura brand kitchen exhaust system, which means:

買櫻花

With purchase of Sukura system,

送油網

Free oil screen/trap

from: Rob B.
to: "tiangotlost@gmail.com"
date: Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 9:53 AM
subject: Help?

I've always wondered what my tat really says....

it supposed to be "wicked clown".

I don't even know what language it is.



Alan and I have figured out where the guy got "wicked clown."


歹 alone can also mean "bad," "evil" or "wicked", and 丑 appears in the word 丑角 (the simplified variant of 醜角) which does mean "clown" or "joker."

But there is no way that 歹丑 means "wicked clown" so we still think the guy is an ass clown.

Alan spotted this photo in BME's Kanji tattoo gallery:



Despite the great calligraphy (calligraphy as in fancy artistic penmanship), there is a huge typo on this person's torso.


Bushido, the way of the warrior in Japanese is written as 武士道, not with 侍 in the middle. 侍 itself means samurai or warrior, but 武侍道 makes no sense in Japanese. Especially considering Bushido is a Japanese concept.

"Bullshitdo", the way of bullshit, would be more fitting.

from: d.h.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sun, Sep 12, 2010 at 8:38 AM
subject: Here's one

This is supposed to mean passion. I don't think it does. In fact, i couldn't locate this configuration of radicals at all. What are your thoughts?



It means "hot, middle", which does not mean "passion".

This tattoo also reminded me the terrible hip-hop song by Nelly, Hot in Here.

from: Pb.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 8:42 AM
subject: My tattoo..

Hey hi Tian.. stumbled over ur blog so thought i should hav my tattoo meaning verified.. I asked the artist to put the my birth date that is 24..
I would appreciate ur feedback..

Thanks
Pb..



The bottom character does not exist in Chinese or Japanese vocabulary.

肆 is used as four (banker's anti-fraud numeral)

from: jeffrey f.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 12:16 PM

Can you tell me what these letters are? Supposedly they are the chinese letters m.a.w, intials not a word but I don't believe that's what they are. Thank you very much for your help.



Jeffrey is another sucker of this fake Alphabet-to-Chinese font.

from: Andi F.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 11:31 AM
subject: Kanji translations

Hey there! I totally LOVE your blog!

ok, so I have 2 different Kanji tattoos. I researched them myself, and was after the Japanese meanings of the characters. I didn't trust a tattoo shop book for either one. The fire/Ice tattoo is supposed to me "to be devoted". The kanji is composed out of the negative space. I was after a verb form, and I am most worried about this one.

Tell me I did it right!! Otherwise, back to the needle I go!

Thanks,

A



Granted this tattoo intended to be read from Japanese perspective, but 沒頭 literally means "no head" in Chinese, in other words "lack of common sense".

Alan has the following to add:

The tattoo is evidently 没頭る, which appears to be a "slangy" way of writing the Japanese verb "hamaru" which in itself is a slang way to say "be a fan of," "be absorbed in" or maybe "be devoted to" something like a rock band or a manga or some other pop culture phenomenon.

Originally, the verb hamaru was written 嵌る or 填る (or sometimes ハマる), but evidently due to the influence of the noun 没頭 [bottō], which means "devotion to" or "absorption in" something, people started writing the word like 没頭る but still pronouncing it hamaru. Perhaps one reason why people started writing the word with these new characters is because both of the old ones 嵌 and 填 were removed from common use in Japanese.

This use of different characters to write words is called 当て字 (ateji) in Japanese. These 当て字 can be used on a whim and there are no particular rules except what becomes popular.

Without common sense, indeed!

from: Sarah C.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 5:53 AM
subject: My husband's old tattoo!

I stumbled across your blog and have had a great time reading it!!

My husband is an unfortunate teenage tattoo victim. He very proudly displays this tattoo on his shoulder blade which he swears means "dragon". However I've looked up the character for dragon and it is nothing like his tattoo!

Does his tattoo have any meaning or is it an attack of gibberish?

Thank you!

Sarah



辰 represents the fifth zodiac year which happens to be "the year of dragon", not the actual dragon. However the tattooed character has an unnecessary extra bit at left upper corner.

Dragon is typically 龍 (or 龙) in Chinese, and 竜 in Japanese.

from: Maija M.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 11:21 AM
subject: A promise to my Mom

Hi,

I got this tattoo to honor my Mom after she died from early onset Alzheimer's. At the time, I went back to school while I took care of her and got a degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The location has a special meaning to me and the characters were written for me by one of my teachers.

The two characters are supposed to read "Ma Carol" and the squired symbol then makes it Ma Ma and Carol Carol (my Mom's name and my middle name). Also, I believe the characters can be read as "path" and "promise" as in I promised to help care for others on my new path as a healer.

However, I'm embarrassed to say I've forgotten which character is which and also want to find about about other possible interpretations.

Thanks in advance,

Maija M.



Top character 媽 is correct for "mother".

However tattooed character is not 路, which means "road / path".

from: Julia P.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 3:49 AM
subject: tatoo

Hello, Tian!

I like your site and my tatoo :))

But could you say me what it mean?

Thank you!

--
Julia P.



Hello Julia!

I don't know what your tattoo means.

You are welcome!

--
Tian

from: Travis L.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 3:33 PM
subject: My friend bobby got this dumb tattoo

A resident Japanese says it means “Green Vegetable”, so we have been laughing at bobby. We could never get him to say. One theory is "weed", slang for marijuana.

What do you say?

Thanks!



菜 indeed means "greens, vegetable, food dish".

Bobby needs to lay off smoking oregano, the gateway drug to catnip.

from: marisa r.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 7:24 AM
subject: My husbands Tattoo

My husband being the hero that he is when stationed over in Bahrain (where tattoo's are illegal) went with some friends drunk to a guys HOUSE!!!! And my husband looked through a book, found the symbol for "strength" and got it.

Thanks so much

Marisa



First of all, the character is mirrored.

If it is be read as one single character 慉, it means "to bring up, to raise".

If they are two characters, 小 and 畜, which means "small livestock or young animal".

from: Joe I.
to: Tian
date: Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 7:20 PM
subject: Tattoo Translation Question

I found your website about a week ago and was wondering if you could translate what this says, the picture comes from a good friend. There are two different things, with the top character being separate from the other ones. I'm not sure what the top one is supposed to mean, and I'm pretty sure the bottom one is supposed to be her name. After reading through your website though I learned that there really isn't a way to translate specific characters, like for names so I'm interested in what the heck it actually is.

It might be in Japanese, I forget what she had told me.

Thanks.



Top character 氷 is Japanese-specific, meaning "ice". Second character 加 means "add".

"Smirnoff ice"?

from: Dana H.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 5:51 AM
subject: Tattoo Question

A girl I know from high school recently got this tattoo on her arm. She says it means "beautiful", but a friend of mine says that isn't so, and that 美 is the Chinese character for beauty. The top part even looks like a series of triangle brackets, not like any Chinese character.

So what does this really mean?



災 means "calamity, disaster, catastrophe", and definitely not "beauty", which is 美.

from: Clarity S.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 9:26 AM
subject: Please tell me this means "chaos"

I love your blog!

Please tell me this means "chaos"!



屯 means "barracks, camp, station". In I-Ching (or Yi Jing), it was used to represent "sprouting". None of these uses meant "Chaos", which is 混沌 in Chinese and カオス in Japanese.

from: Cher S.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 2:17 PM
subject: Translation request

Greetings,

I had this tattoo done over 12 years ago when I served in the U.S. Navy. To be completely honest, I do not remember much about that night. Can you work your magic and decipher my tattoo?

Thank you,

Cher S.



Top character looks like 伐 with an extra dot, which means "to cut down", and 福 is correct for "fortune".

from: Jamie D.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 1:43 PM
subject: My tattoo artist is talented but doesn't listen

So...I was told this was the symbol for 'chi' - a giggling oriental girl told me it means 'rice' (which I actually find hilarious.) Any other meaning????



米 by itself alone means "rice".

from: Paul J.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 5:49 AM
subject: another Hanzi Smatter

Hi Tian,

Ah yes, another victim gets a tattoo when they were a drunk teenager almost 16 years ago -- has a feeling it doesn't mean what they think it does.

Of course it means "STRENGTH", right??

Thanks! Your blog is hilarious, without trying to be.

Dr. P

ps, I can't wait to hear what it really means.



慉 means "to foster / to bear", not "strength".

from: W.J. H.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 11:43 AM
subject: Please Translate Ex-Boyfriend's Tattoo

My ex seems to think that his tattoo means "Hell's Warrior". The fella isn't the brightest crayon in the box and I would honestly be very surprised if he managed to get an accurately translated kanji tattoo in rural Idaho. Care to clarify it's meaning?



Top two character 地獄 does mean "hell", however 武 by itself alone does not mean "warrior".

from: Alex Y.
to: "tiangotlost@gmail.com"
date: Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 9:44 AM
subject: Friend's tattoo

Wondering if you could translate this. My friend thinks it says something like, "to learn as much as possible."

Thanks,

Alex



空 means "empty, hollow, bare, deserted".

from: Jen W.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 10:28 PM
subject: To Fight is to Suffer?

My neighbor directed me to your site after I mentioned to her that my husband had a kanji tattoo.

He tells everyone that it is supposed to mean something along the lines of "to fight is to suffer", and then it later came out that he had gotten the tattoo for his ex-fiancée soon after they split up (before we ever met).

I would be VERY interested to know what it translates to, because he says that he researched it really well before he was inked.

PS- He has said before that the dragon and the kanji are not related, and that they were drawn up at different times.

I would really appreciate your help.

-Jen W.



窮 typically means "exhausted/poor".

from: vicki
to: "tiangotlost@gmail.com"
date: Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 10:52 AM
subject: please help me translate my tattoo

so, i got a tattoo on the back of my neck on my 18th birthday and was told it would be the kinji symbol for "princess".

through recent research via internet, all i can find is "princess" being 2 symbols not one. can you ease my mind and hopefully let me know this means princess? if not, i would love to know what it means and which language is actually on my neck.

thank-you in advance!!



宮 by itself alone means "palace", not quite princess.

from: Brian L.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 3:36 PM
subject: Tattoo

Hi there,

I apologize for emailing you out of the blue but I’m hoping you can help me.

Many years ago I got a tattoo that was done by an artist who was allegedly Japanese and claimed could read Japanese. Today I now teach Japanese martial arts and I’m embarrassed to say that my tattoo doesn’t mean what it was supposed to. Can you help me translate this?

I’d greatly appreciate the help.

Regards,

Brian



寂 means "lonely" & 実 means "reality", however the compound phrase 寂実 does not exist.

from: Crystal F.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 7:53 PM
subject: wisdom and transience?

Hi,

I stumbled across your blog, and through my reading, I remembered my friend's new tattoo.

So, he claims the crane represents wisdom, and the characters mean "transience," (He posted the photo on Facebook, and in reply to a friend's comment asking what the characters meant, he said, "In this case it means transience.")

Additionally, he received his new branding at the *famous* Ed Hardy's Tattoo City SF (Yes, the Ed Hardy.)

So, is this correct?

Thanks, Crystal




How does 桜 (cherry) relate to "transience"?

from: Jeff L.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 4:44 AM
subject: My silly-ass tattoo

Hi Tian!

Very nice blog you have here. I was wondering if you could help me re-translate (hopefully correctly this time) my first ever tattoo!! (surprise!) The top should read "to excel", the inside should read "strength", the outside "to persevere", and the bottom "to find happiness".

Thanks!



In Japanese, 我慢 means "to persevere" or "patience, endurance, perseverance." However, it means "I am slow" in Chinese.
芽出度い, which can mean "happy" but can also colloquially mean "pregnant" or "crazy."

from: Carla M.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 1:20 PM
subject: Could u help me with my tattoo?

Hi,

I have a chinese tattoo and I'm probably the 200000th person who claims your help to know if I'm as stupid as all people who trust their tattoo artist... I had believed during 10 years that my tattoo means an "C" a "K" and an "S"...I'm right?

Thanks!!



Carla is another person with gibberish faux Chinese tattooed on her back.

http://hanzismatter.blogspot.com/2006/08/gibberish-asian-font-mystery-solved.html

http://hanzismatter.blogspot.com/2009/11/another-set-of-gibberish-english.html

from: Lindsey O.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 11:51 AM
subject: tattoo

One of my exes has several tattoos that are either hanzi or kanji, though I am not sure which. I had always wondered if they actually mean what he believes them to, and was able to find a couple of pictures that had two of them (though, unfortunately I couldn't find any of the other one/ones). Those attached are supposed to say "way of the tiger" and "way of the dragon."



Granted these were not high resolution photographs, however 道大虎 and 道大龍 are not exactly "way of the tiger" and "way of the dragon".

from: J. S.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 5:58 PM
subject: Tattoo Translation

Hello,

I just stumbled across your blog and thought that you could assist me in verifying the meaning of my tattoo. I did them myself late one night a couple years back while apprenticing at a tattoo parlor.

Thanks

J. S.



First of all, the top character 苦 is upside down. Bottom characters 阿呆 means "fool, idiot".

The tattoo is very fitting & means "bitter [or suffering] idiot".

from: Paul W.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 9:47 PM
subject: Tattoo Question

Hey,

I saw your blog on Mental Floss and thought you could help.

I have a tattoo, it's supposed to be kanji for hope, but I haven't been able to find a symbol that matches it and has the same meaning.

Actually, I haven't been able to find the symbol at all.

Is there anyway you might be able to tell me?

Thanks in advance,

Paul W.



期 means "date, period".

from: ian b.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 8:41 AM
subject: Tattoo translation dilemma!

Good afternoon,

I found your blog by googling 'What does my Chinese symbol tattoo mean?'

I was perfectly happy that my Tattoo meant 'friendship' for over 10 years until i recently researched symbols on the Internet and discovered that mine doesn't appear to relate to which it was sold as.

Can you assist me in a true translation for my tattoo.

Thanks very much in advance.

Ian



仲 does not mean "friendship" as Ian was first informed if it is read as Chinese. When read as Japanese, 仲 (なか), it is interpreted as "relation; relationship".

from: james h.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 3:52 PM
subject: Lost In Translation

I ran across your blog in the hopes that you might be able to translate my tattoo. A buddy of mine has the exact same tattoo and he got me it as a gift for my birthday. Over the years I've questioned the authenticity of the meaning and turns out he has know idea what it translates to. He told me it was kanji for "Fear No Man" , but I've looked in to it and know where can I find any similarities between what I have and what I have researched.

I would appreciate your help in translating my tattoo so I could have some peace of mind.

Thanks,

James



棺材佬 means "coffin man".

However, the middle character of 木見才 does not exist in Chinese character list.

from: Wendi B.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 3:42 PM
subject: Tattoo

Hello, I found your blog randomly through "stumbling" and thought I'd toss my tattoo your way. When I got it I thought it meant "calmness" (out of a book at at tattoo parlor I worked for when I was young and dumb).

A few months later, a Japanese exchange student came in and told me it meant "lonely." So I just thought it would be interesting to see if you concur. Sorry it's a little blurry (also the artist used a tattooing method to make it look "brushed on"...and it's old at this point).

Thanks,
Wendi



寂 has multiple meanings when it is used alone. When read as Chinese, it can be interpreted as "solitary". However if it is read as Japanese, it would mean "lonely".

from: Justin
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 7:42 AM
subject: Tattoo query

Hey,

I was reading your blog and it very interesting. I have been having this dilemma of finding out what is the true meaning of the tattoo I got in my teen years. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a million.



元氣 means "vitality", 気 in the tattoo is distinctively a variant used in Japanese.

from: Kim B.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 8:43 AM
subject: Tattoo

Your blog is fascinating. I have attached a picture of the tattoo I have on my left shoulder blade.

I got it while in New Orleans and like the shape of it, I'm just not sure how it translates. When people ask, I usually tell them: Stupid American (although at the time I was told it means beautiful or beauty).

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Kim B.



If this character is intended to be "beauty", 美, then it is missing a horizontal stroke. However, the joke does not stop there.

Chinese character for sheep is 羊, and what Kim B. has on her shoulder blade does indeed look like sheep with a little dropping.

from: mike h.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 11:28 AM

Hi,

I have a similar story to those posted on your blog, my sister allowed a trainee to practise his 'art' after a day of indulgent partying and likewise has no idea what this 'disaster' means.

I really hope you can help.

Many thanks.



Whoever got this probably over-stretched a book on a copy machine. The characters size are inconsistent. My favorite part is the tattooist even included the period behind 經.

妙法蓮華經 is Lotus Sutra.

from: tim
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Fri, Jun 11, 2010 at 2:32 PM
subject: tattoo interpretation

A coworker of mine has a tattoo he got while he was out partying a couple a years ago and has absolutely no idea what it means. Can you tell us?

Thanks,

Tim



Why would anyone be proud of tattoo that says: "to commit any imaginable evil"?

from: john r.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 2:58 AM
subject: tattoo translation help please...

Hi There

I have enjoyed reading through your blog a few times and this weekend talking to my girlfriends sister, I felt need to ask you for help. She was showing me her tattoo, that she had a few years back which is supposed to be Heavenly Girl in Chinese. Having looked at the characters, I recognised the first as being the Japanese Kanji for Heaven, Im not sure it means the same in Hanzi or not, but I could not recognise the last two characters as anything related to girl or woman. Although I can recognise the first character as 天 - (sky, heaven) and the last character which I think is 吏 - (government official, official), the middle character is awkward. I think it is 丁- (leaf, block, cake), giving 天丁吏, which I don't know how this would work combined, but all these are Japanese translations anyway. Any chance you can shed a little more light on this?

Thanks very much for your time

John



It is 天使 or "angel" with 使 not clearly written.

from: Alexandria C.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 2:24 AM
subject: tattoo translation help please...

I heard about your blog from a friend and decided to check it out cause i am worried about a tattoo i have personally. It is supposed to mean " live for today" but i would really appriciate it if you could help in translating the picture of it attached. Thanks do much for your time!



Alan and I saw tattoo template of this for sale back in 2007:

生現 “Live For Today”

As is, this gibberish means nothing in Japanese or at least nothing like “live for today” and I don’t think it means anything in Chinese either. The only meaning I can guess is that if it were written 生きて現れる, this would mean “to show up alive” or “turn up alive” as if someone thought dead had appeared alive. Anyway, it sounds pretty spooky, like seeing a zombie!

I think the person who made this up just looked in a dictionary for the word for “to live” 生 and a word that means something like “now” 現 and thought you could stick them together to make “live for today.”

It doesn’t work like that.

This photo was posted in Checkoutmyink.com with title, "Kanji - No Fear".




I have never seen 否怖 used as "no fear". Typically 無畏 is used.