Fellow Dead heads, a question

[NarcoticHobo]

So being a dead-head as well as a person who studies Chinese and spends a lot of time in China I was thinking about getting a tattoo. I've decided on one that says China Cat Sunflower, but in Chinese characters.

So the question is this, should I translate China Cat as either

A) The word China followed by the word Cat with no relation.

B) Treat it as if it were saying Chinese Cat, and translate it as a Cat who is Chinese or is from China

C) Many people think China Cat refers to the lucky cat figurines that almost all asian businesses have, in chinese this has a specific name, unlike in english. Literally it would mean Beckoning Wealth Cat, but would be the same number of characters.

If you happened to have asian languages installed they would look like this:

A)?????

B)??????

C) ?????


Also the characters ?? could potentially be changed to ??, ??, or ?? while retaining basically the same meaning of "China".

 

[bennylong]

What drugs have you been taking????

I ate a fat cat while I was Nanning, GuangXi in April. Not that tasty by the way.

 

[dighn]

edit: Ok I see it's the name of a song... you're just gonna confuse everyone because it looks as nonsensical as it is in English.
I would rule out B) unless it is your intention to say "cat sunflower" of china - "cat sunflower" being a unit. I say A so people can at least do a literal translation and figure out what the heck you are referring to.

 

[NarcoticHobo]

Originally posted by: bennylong
What drugs have you been taking????

I ate a fat cat while I was Nanning, GuangXi in April. Not that tasty by the way.

Why what you got?

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend eating cat. I hear dog is pretty good though, most expensive item on the menu at korean places.

Edit: Yes it is the name of a song, my favorite dead song to be exact.

Any opinions on which you think would be best?

 

[kranky]

My understanding is that (C) is what Hunter meant (the porcelain cat) so that would probably be the best choice.

 

[UncleWai]

Why stop with one? You should have all three tattoos on.

Please post a picture after you get it done, so we can pass it around the internet and have a laugh.

 

[NarcoticHobo]

Originally posted by: UncleWai
Why stop with one? You should have all three tattoos on.

Please post a picture after you get it done, so we can pass it around the internet and have a laugh.

Last time I checked getting a tattoo was not about pleasing other people.

Edit: Thanks to Dighn and Kranky for the responses. I agree I think it is a good idea to rule out B in retrospect, especially with your point about it possibly meaning chinese "cat sunflower", forgot that would be the implication.

It's hard to choose between what Hunter meant and the literal translation, but I figure either I will be explaining it to people who don't speak chinese and can say it means China Cat sunflower, or I will be explaining the meaning to someone who is chinese and just say it's the name of a song.

I don't think many people will both be able to read the characters and recognize "China Cat Sunflower" as a song.