Textual Tattoos
Ever since I saw Dominic Monaghan’s bicep, I’ve been interested in word and phrase tattoos. That is, tattoos comprised mostly or entirely of English words and sentences.
I don’t have tattoos. I do think that getting a word or phrase takes more courage than getting a bird, maple leaf or kanji character. A hummingbird can represent love or speed or freedom or whatever, but “Yo Mamma” on your inner thigh is far less ambiguous.
I went looking for a site dedicated to textual tattoos. My 40 second search came up empty, so I turned to Flickr. After the jump, you can see my growing list of word and phrase tattoos. If you’ve got one, know of such a repository, spotted a photo of one on the Web or otherwise have something to contribute, leave a comment or email me at darren at darrenbarefoot fullstop com. I’m not interested in Asian characters–there’s a great blog for them already.
- “It’s not meant to be a strife, it’s not meant to be a struggle uphill.” Lyrics from a Bjork song.
- “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” A quote from Ghandi.
- A definition of the word ‘bibliophile’, complete with pronounciation and source.
- “Legalize”, above a pierced male nipple.
- An entire freakin’ song on this guy’s back.
- “I am the dictactor”. I’m no tattoo expert, but I’m not sure if this one is permanent. Lyrics from a Clash song.
- “You Fail Me” on a forearm. From a Converge album, methinks.
- “Your name”. An old joke.
- “Many want to be, but can’t be me. For I am the one, the truth.” Couldn’t find the origin of this one.
- The seven deadly sins on a forearm. They’d be a handy reminder for the owner if they were easier to refer to.
- “What doesn’t kill me eventually will.” Heh.
- “snapcult”. Apparently refers to “a multi-disciplinary cult hailing to the luminescent and dark arts.”
- “Day shall come again”. Beside the state of Virginia.
- “I have a strong will to love you for eternity.” From Milan Kundera’s Immortality.
- “</body>”. Heh, again.
- “country,”. Possibly from Shelley Jackson’s Skin project?
- “memorious”. Possibly also from the aforementioned Skin project.
- “Live by the drum, die by the drum”. What about the bass?
- “every being is the author of his own health or disease”. Google search comes back empty.
- “Freedom”. Across a chest. Honourable mention: an emoticon.
- The first three lines of “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas. Thanks, Caterina.
- “Car the Helen or Ray. Needs and tune up. Money to Max and Sylvia. Furniture to George plus $137 I owe him.” Apparently from the will of a psychiatrist
in the twenties, written just before he killed himself. Thanks again, Caterina. - “Lookin’ for my missin’ piece”. From Shel Silverstein’s The Missing Piece. This woman also has a couple of quotes and images from Gorey.
- E to the power of X on the back of a neck.
- Mike writes with his tattoo, which reads “bruises”. It’s part of the Shelley Jackson Skin project.
I think my favourite, in terms of a selection of text, is the line from Milan Kundera. It’s a lovely sentiment and esoteric. Having collected these, I’ve realized an advantage of getting a textual tattoo–you can improve your odds of having a truly unique piece of body art.
Donna, who has a Gaelic word tattooed on her back, points to a photo gallery I couldn’t find. You can look at the first 150 images for free–apparently people are willing to pay for photos of tattoos.
Via RaeA, this guy tattooed a radio station’s top songs on his butt (only in Australia). I don’t think I’d want the phrase “Smells like Teen Spirit” anywhere near my posterior.
Jo writes with this impressive, lengthy textual tattoo, which reads: “There are two sorts of curiosity — the momentary and the permanent. The momentary is concerned with the odd appearance on the surface of things. The permanent is attracted by the amazing and consecutive life that flows on beneath the surface of things.–Robert Lynd”.
Kymberlie writes with this tattoo, that quotes a poem by Rilke: “and in the ponds broken off from the sky, my feeling sinks as if standing on fishes”.
Here’s a nice message on somebody’s arm: “Believe in forgiveness”.
Jacky sends this quote which in English means “what nourishes me, destroys me”. It looks like that might have been a bit ticklish.
Caitlin sent along this shot of her back, which is another example of that Ghandi quote:
Andrew writes with this simple message on his forearm:
March 9th, 2005 at 12:21 pm
http://flickr.com/photos/arwenoid/5476506/
I like it, anyway. :)
There’s also a category in BME for exactly this sort of thing:
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/let001.html
March 9th, 2005 at 1:35 pm
For the longest time, I was going to get “Lorem Ipsum” tattooed on me.
March 9th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
A friend in Saskatoon has many textual tattoos, including the word tolerate on one arm. I will take a pic when I go home.
March 9th, 2005 at 8:31 pm
shelley jackson, even though it’s funnier to think that shirley jackson might have done that project…
March 10th, 2005 at 2:26 am
You might like to have a look at http://www.triplej.abc.net.au/hottest100/h100bum.htm.
This guy has the number one song from JJJ’s hotest one hundred as a tattoo
March 10th, 2005 at 2:50 am
Darren, the image you chose to illustrate this post is perhaps my favorite tattoo ever — I spotted it on flickr a while ago.
Of some recent tattoos I’ve seen, I like this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hummanna/6240609/
It says “e^x”. Quite all-encompassing, eh?
March 10th, 2005 at 8:06 am
see this–an interesting “art” project wherein the author of a short story solicited individuals to have single words tattooed on their bodies to make up the story. This is not the link I originally saw about this project, but a quick search with the names in the article will probably link you to the whole thing.
http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=58545
March 10th, 2005 at 9:49 am
On the nape of my neck:
O my hunger
(A line from a poem by Rimbaud, re-used in a poem by Anne Sexton)
March 10th, 2005 at 5:50 pm
Here are three more textual-based tattoos. The first ’sincere’ written on mESH’s left forearm:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mesh/3043204/
A roman numeral 3, denoting William Daniel Parker III:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mesh/3043203/
a symbol for eternity:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mesh/3043201/
and a tag page for the above linked images — be sure to checkout the HTML tattoo linked from BoingBoing.
Great post friend!
March 11th, 2005 at 7:19 am
darren, my sister (the taker of the kundera tattoo photo) passed me along this link. the subject is my wife–i’ll pass along the compliments. she’ll be happy.
a good friend of mine has a quote on his chest, written backwards so he reads it every morning in the mirror. i can’t remember the exact wording, but i’ll see if i can get a photo.
March 11th, 2005 at 8:06 am
(also, i’ve always liked angelina jolie’s tattoo on her belly–”quod me nutrit, me destruit”–that which nourishes me, destroys me. a not-very good photo is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/staple/6310260/ i’ll be there are better out there…)
March 12th, 2005 at 7:11 am
fyi:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=every+being+author+own+health+disease&btnG=Search
March 12th, 2005 at 7:13 am
Gah. Anyway, my point was that if you search for the main words without quotes, you’ll find that the quote is from the Buddha.
March 12th, 2005 at 6:27 pm
Here’s Mine.
Its 181 point Goudy Old Style. I had to have a piece of letterpress type on me.
March 15th, 2005 at 10:34 am
What about Tupac’s Thug Life?
March 16th, 2005 at 9:00 am
Darren, we have a group on flickr called Words on Skin, dedicated to words written and tattooed on bodies. Be sure to check out Ashley and her Shakespeare. I am fascinated by textual tattoos, and have two of them so far. One is the first line of Walt Whitman’s Song to the Open Road. And the other is a simple but quite expressive word. Thanks for such a great collection of textual tattoos!
March 16th, 2005 at 9:29 am
Thanks for link to the photo of my friend’s E to the X neck tattoo. You have a great blog here! I love the compilation of photos that you have pulled together. I’ll need more time to sort through it all.
March 17th, 2005 at 1:39 am
I’ve got Lucky on one wrist and Devil on the other, as well as Revelation written around my collar bone. I think that’s as far as I’ll go with textual tattoos.
Only Lucky is on flickr, right now.
March 17th, 2005 at 1:39 am
Oh, and Ashley’s quote is even cooler up close. :)
March 17th, 2005 at 11:51 am
Awesome. My ghandi quote got posted! woo!
March 17th, 2005 at 11:56 am
words from our print prof.
http://diversionmary.com/gallery/bored/aak
March 17th, 2005 at 12:00 pm
oh, a friend has “verso” and “recto” on her hands, done in white ink, though it changed to a light blue. no pix, sry
March 17th, 2005 at 4:24 pm
I just posted on Flickr a photo I took about a month ago in St. Augustine, Florida, of a man with a tattoo on his neck that reads “© Made By Accident” — thought it might fit in with your theme.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eye2eye/6737303
March 29th, 2005 at 11:12 pm
me
mid page, me at left with one of my permanent text additions. it reads “poindexter”, which is my last name. i also have a partial quote from an e.e. cummings on my back “not for philosophy does this rose give a damn.” letters really are beautiful.
July 17th, 2006 at 6:06 am
hi, i wanted to get a tatoo of something that meant something to me. so i decided to get a tattoo of the meaning of my name- Victory Of The People. i was wondering if you could email me some different cool way to tattoo it thx.
July 18th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
hey, i want to get a textual tattoo of the phrase “Life ain’t always beautiful” but in italian so “La vita non e sempre bella” with a small heart next to it, will it look best in regular cursive or something else? Thanks for the help
October 7th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
I’ve got a similar facination, but it is for the knuckle tattoos. So many combinations and possibilities you can get with up to eight letters (or in rare cases a few more). Check out my site, I think you will like it…
Nathan
March 1st, 2007 at 10:32 am
Here is an ambigram. I had it done on my rib-cage going from below my armpit to my hip. One way says family, and the other way says forever. It took me four years to find a tat that I wanted until I saw this one and right then and there had it done. 4 hours but definitely worth it
March 1st, 2007 at 10:33 am
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o260/chriscanter20/tattoforever.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o260/chriscanter20/Tattoo.jpg
Sorry i forgot to attach these from the previous message
March 15th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
In less than 24 hours, I’m getting the word “karma” tattooed on the side of my neck. I don’t see “karma” the way the western world has come to view it (if you do a bad deed, some bad thing will come to hit you in the head because of it). Instead, I believe that karma is the sum of all your actions, and your actions make up who you are. Creating good energy is key.
Hopefully I don’t chicken out! :)
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:08 am
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
April 18th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I belong to a Flickr group called Words on Skin.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/wordsonskin/pool/
Some are tattoos, some are just writing, interesting none the less.
May 20th, 2007 at 7:47 am
[…] Darren says, Inspired by Dominic Monaghan’s bicep, I created a roundup a while back of textual tattoos: Link. […]
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:16 am
[…] Darren says, Inspired by Dominic Monaghan’s bicep, I created a roundup a while back of textual tattoos: Link. […]
June 11th, 2007 at 11:28 am
I have “Life’s too short to worry” and “Life’s too long to wait” on my wrists. It’s from Todd Snider’s Ballad of the Devil’s Backbone Tavern.
September 20th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dearprudence/1413821584/
i saw that one ^^ and i really want one just like that. but with different words i want: to live will be an awfully big adventure
November 17th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
well you know, sometimes the tatoo does’nt work out and it comes out wrong
Lucky for me I found this great tatoo ebook on the ebay.ca website and I was able to get the perfect tatoo without mistkes, now that rules!!! :D
check it out
http://blogs.ebay.ca/keeth101/entry/LADIES-GOT-INK-800-Tattoos-Plus-6-eBooks-Love-To-I/_W0QQidZ294972018
November 27th, 2007 at 6:41 am
I have ‘Don’t it make you sad to know that life; is more than who you are’ tattooed on my right hip.
about to get 3 more textual tattoos.. i’ll add them to the list once they are done
January 15th, 2008 at 10:20 am
i love text tattoos and was pleased to find this collection! you can see a few of mine here:
http://wedontdance.com/tat.jpg - spanish
http://wedontdance.com/tat2.jpg - arabic
http://wedontdance.com/tat3.jpg - german
http://wedontdance.com/tat4.jpg - polish
i do not have a picture of the french one yet though…
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 am
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:45 am
daily reminder of how i want to live: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=163493799&albumID=562542&imageID=10799051 (lyrics from a todd snider song)
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:47 am
damn it, here’s the one i was trying to send! http://a39.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/128/l_4038577be869297d8df7b2edd5e31c76.jpg
February 1st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I have CRY
CRY
CRY
on my wrist in tribute to the good ole Johnny Cash. I have a star below my neck, and I either want the Shakespeare quote “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves” around it… Or “Ad Astra Per Aspera” (latiin for ‘ a rough road leads to the stars’) in the star i already have…any suggestions??
February 10th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Hey,
I wanna put this quote by David Whyte on my stomach…”anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you”…i dont want it that big..and in pretty plain font..but do u have any ideas?
February 16th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
On the side of my foot…
“And your very flesh shall be a great poem.”
-Walt Whitman
February 21st, 2008 at 9:30 am
i realy want a short simple quote on the back of my neck but not one that is too deep if you know what i mean..
what do you think of “Take me as I am…”
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
I got a tattoo on my left shoulderblade that says “her value far above rubies and pearls”.
i got it because my heart is on my left, and because it is the slogan for mercy ministries; an organisation that deals with abused women.
i was abused so it has an immense amount of meaninf for me.
i have been wanting to tell someone, anyone, why i got it… but no-one knows i was abused.
so thank you, for listening.
March 4th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I am thinking about getting a first tattoo - “i send this smile over to you” from Disarm, Smashing Pumpkins. Starting underneath heart on chest then wrapping around to the back so you can’t read the whole quote from any one side. The quote has a number of meanings to me personally. I haven’t quite decided yet - just thought i’d share.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:33 am
There is an entire book devoted to the art of textual tattoos called Body Type, Intimate Messages Etched In Flesh by Ina Saltz. Check it out.
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:51 pm
i’m glad i found this website beacuse recently got a tribal cross on my right side shoulder and left it empty inside beacuse i want to put something that really means something u know …i have no idea what it is yet but your site is really helping decide thx men
April 10th, 2008 at 8:29 am
[…] via DarrenBarefoot.com […]
April 16th, 2008 at 9:16 am
[…] topic more thinly. There are obviously plenty of blogs about tattoos out there. Recently (thanks to my popular old post about textual tattoos) I got an email from Jen who’s started a blog only on literary tattoos. If she keeps it up, […]
June 4th, 2008 at 2:51 am
hey chandler
i like your idea for the latin tattoo - i was actually going to get it myself, however i did some research and spoke to a latin prof and have since found that it would be more correct to have “per ardua ad astra” - through adversity to the stars, rather than the aspera version….just to let you know :-)
June 10th, 2008 at 2:16 am
the “every being is the author of his own health or disease” is a quote from buddha
June 15th, 2008 at 6:23 am
45 from carly says she has the whitman quote “and your very flesh shall be a great poem”.
I’ve been wanting to get that on my foot for soooooo long. im shocked to hear it someone has it. Pictures please…if you ever read this =)
August 20th, 2008 at 10:23 am
[…] Darren Barefoot’s blog post on textual tattoos with link list. […]
August 29th, 2008 at 11:09 am
i have the irish gaelic word “dobhriste” inside my wrist which means unbreakable. also “is onorai poll na paiste” on the back of my neck which means “the hole is more honorable than a patch”
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:38 am
I have the spanish phrase “Por Algo Sera” tattooed on my side. Although not the literal translation, it’s basically the equivalent of saying “Everything happens for a reason.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30111852@N03/2821174054/