Blog 5: Dog Pissing Love – a Story about Chinese Tattoos

German Version

I have been living in two cultures for many years. It’s interesting to see the effect when people choose words or symbols from another culture without knowing what they really mean.

For example in China it is very trendy to wear T-shirts with English words or slogans. However, some well-known stars have worn T-shirts with prints such as „VAMP“, „Hustler“ or „social butterfly“ on TV or openly without realising what kind of wrong image they were portraying to the public and their fans.

When I came to Europe I started seeing various tattoos using Chinese characters. Some of them were so strange that I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Bad Chinese tattoos

The worst Chinese tattoos are those that are misspelled or written badly. They either don’t mean anything or look like they were written by a child who has only just started learning how to write. Then there are the tattoos where each word is correct, however the combination of characters doesn’t have a meaning or certainly doesn’t mean what the wearer intended.

Most embarrassing Chinese tattoo

The most embarrassing tattoo I have seen was on a wedding photo. The beautiful bride was wearing her angelic wedding dress while sitting and holding hands with her groom. The couple was smiling and looking into each others eyes. It was a perfect wedding picture. Unfortunately as a native Chinese I could not ignore the big black Chinese characters showing through the veil. 狗水爱 which mean: dog, water & love. The bride probably chose the words because she loves dogs and water. But I am sure neither she nor the tattoo artist are Chinese speakers nor do they understand that the combination of these characters does not have a nice meaning. Dog and water sound like a dog pissing or drooling. They certainly don’t give the picture of a sweet couple in love walking along the beach, while their dog runs along side them and plays in the water. Dog’s urine is a symbol for dirt and a drooling dog is a metaphor for gossip. I am sure the bride did not want to send the message: My love is nasty.

Unsuccessful Chinese Tattoos in Hollywood

A number of Hollywood stars have also used Chinese characters very unsuccessfully. You may have seen the Chinese words on Stephen Amell’s belly on the poster of the series Arrow. 鼠姜姚猪 mean: rat, ginger, Yao ( Yao is a surname, like Míng Yao, who was a famous NBA basketball player) & pig. On the internet and in talk shows there have been numerous Chinese discussions trying to figure out what Stephen is trying to say. But none of the results are very convincing. My guess is that the words were only chosen because they look „cool“. Probably no one in Hollywood really cares what they mean.

Good Chinese tattoos

Of course there are also good Chinese tattoos. I once saw a guy on the train who was clearly deaf. He was communicating with his friend using sign language. On his throat he had a very simple Chinese tattoo: 井, which means (water) well. A well symbolises deep water. I think the tattoo is very clever as it has two meanings. On one hand it says „I am deep water“ which is a Chinese metaphor for someone who doesn’t speak much but is very wise. On the other hand 井 (well) is pronounced similar to 静 (both pronounced Jing, just slightly different tones), which means quietness and peace. The word was also written in a very elegant calligraphy style which really matched the meaning of the word. Because of these tattoos I still remember the people years later. I feel pity for the poor bride and smile when I think of the guy on the train.

So if you are thinking about getting a tattoo with Chinese characters please talk to someone who can’t only read Chinese but who also understands Chinese culture and literature. For one you need be sure words you chose really mean what you want them to mean. Second you want to be confident that the tattoo artists will really print the characters in the right shape and nice style on your body.

In my opinion tattoos should look nice and have a good meaning. If you only want them to look cool ignore my advice 😊

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