Dunno What It Means, But It's Permanent
Okay, I have to say something about the improper uses of Chinese characters ("han zi") / Japanese kanji.
While doing my daily random browsing (while trying to "focus" in between real work), I stumbled across a rather interesting site: Hanzi Smatter. The site/blog collects these "improper use" sights found on the streets and then disects the meanings. Funny stuff. (Some are a little far off, as in they're stretching it far, just to ridicule the phrases. But eh, still funny.)
This phenomenon has slowly grown popular amongst non-Asians largely because the characters have this "cool look" to them. The forms of the words, the brush strokes and stylistic shapes, they just look cool. Never mind, of course, what it means.
But please, people, do a little research.
Especially if you're going to tattoo it on you.
Sure, I've thought (in passing) that if I were to get a tattoo, I'd want a single Chinese character, and small. But (1) I haven't yet found a single word that encompasses what I want to project, (2) I don't want to be a tattooed thug-lookin' grandpa, and (3) hell no I ain't going through that pain.
3 comments:
A lot of people were very put off by _the_author's_ lack of research of what he was mocking. Apparently, half the time, the terms were actually meant to be kanji and made perfect sense in Japanese. He also doesn't seem to understand nuances in the different usages of Chinese in different regions (Mainland vs. Taiwan vs. Hong Kong vs. overseas).
Get a painted tattoo just for fun and will wash off in a week. I did that and a week later, I hated it. It washed off. No PAIN and didn't scar to my skill!
Yeah, sometimes it seems as though he's really stretching the point, just to make it. Still, it's worth a fun visit every so often from me. :-)
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