German Teapot with "Asian-Inspired" Gibberish

Reader Lester B. has sent me this photo of a teapot from Germany.



The red text in German says "enjoy your first tea", yet the four "Chinese-looking" or "Asian-inspired" characters are complete gibberish, even when they are read upside down.

Neglectful Svetlyo?

A tattooist named Svetlyo of Eclipse Tattoo in Ruse, Bulgaria, did these two tattoos.


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60612/high/bmepb285141.jpg


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60612/high/bmepb285140.jpg

In both cases, the characters circled in red, 運, 權 and 惑, are missing strokes. I wonder if they were done incorrectly due to tattoo template flaws or a neglectful tattooist.

Advice from Seth MacFarlane

videos: DevilDucky, Google, YouTube, or Windows Media 1.73 MB

At recently 2006 Harvard Class day, the creator of Family Guy and American Dad, Seth MacFarlane, had some simple tips for the new graduates:

Number 1, Don’t get a tattoo of a Chinese character on your fanny if you don’t understand the language. Tattoo removal services are making a killing off people’s stupidity. It’s because little “Miss. Individuality” walks into a tattoo parlor and gets an Asian symbol she thinks it means “spiritual woman”, but then she later finds out it means “sugar substitute”.

Or worse, “crazy diarrhea”.

Videos of Seth MacFarlane's speech in full length can be found on DevilDucky, Google Video and YouTube. Thanks to Jon Rahoi and Gaijin Biker for the tips.

Karma

Since most tattooists in the West are not fluent in Chinese, one would think getting Chinese character tattoo done in Hong Kong would minimize the probability of screwing up.

That logic would be true only if the tattooist has passed primary education level.

It seems at least one tattooist (Gabe of Ace Dragon Tattoo) in Hong Kong can’t be trusted with Chinese character tattoos.


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60605/high/bmepb284466.jpg
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60605/high/bmepb284465.jpg
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60605/high/bmepb284464.jpg
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60605/high/bmepb284463.jpg
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60605/high/bmepb284462.jpg

因果 and 報應 are redundant phrases for “karma”. In the tattoo, left partial of 報 has two extra dots added to 幸, and 應 is missing one or two 亻depending on the font style.

In the karmic fashion, Erika H. has sent in an Engrish tattoo from Japan.


http://www.nicetattoo.co.jp/gallery.html

Update: June 18, 2006 - The owner of the "karma" tattoo, Jessica Lelovic, is upset about seeing her tattoo been commented on this site. She also claims that the two extra dots are added due to the font style (yea, right) and I have violated copyrights of these photos.

Since I have never claimed ownerships of these photos, plus all the photos are linked to their original sources, Lelovic's claim is so pathetic that it would not hold up in any court.

EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, has this to say:

Web Linking Need Not Cause Copyright Liability

So, I would like to make the following clear to Jessica:

1. Don't be stupid and get an incorrect tattoo.
2. Don't post photos of your stupid tattoo on the web to show off, especially third party sites (i.e. MySpace, Friendster, or BMEzine). Depending on these sites' terms and conditions, you may have already waived all your copyrights away once the photos are posted.
3. Don't be a bitch when someone else is mocking your stupid tattoo. Keep a low profile. The bitchier you get, more entertaining it is for everyone else.

"Inferior Goods?"

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60529/high/bmepb274840.jpg

This is definitely a very interesting selection for a lower back tattoo.

If the last character is a botched 貨, then the phrase would be 不芸貨, or "inferior goods".

"CT"

Reader with the initials “CT” writes,

Hi,

I came across your blog through Google. Yes, shamefully, I did it. Many years ago, I had my "initials" put on the back of my neck.

Now, I know the alphabet does not exist. If given a picture, could you tell me what it says?

I have tried many resources, and no one seems to be willing to help me out.

I am glad “CT” understood the fact that there is no such thing as the direct correlation between English alphabet and Chinese characters.

I was also surprised to find out 安 commonly used as “peaceful” and “tranquil”, could also mean “cheap” in Japanese, as in

安 【やす】 (pref) cheap; ED

Lucky Dog Dead Drunk

I do not know whether if the rotated placement of these characters were intentional or not, but the four characters 狗吉死醉 are loosely translated as “lucky, dog, dead, drunk”.


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60515/high/bmegl269263.jpg

I should also mention that the character 酔 in the tattoo is a Japanese simplified kanji from 醉.

The illustrations of moon, sun, star, and cloud reminded me of the music video of Smashing Pumpkin’s song – Tonight, Tonight.