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Hanzi - Chinese Characters in Western Culture used incorrectly

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http://www.hanzismatter.com/

Robert Siegel talks with Tian Tang, author of a Web site dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters in Western culture. Tang posts photos of Chinese character tattoos that either contain errors or carry no meaning.

Tang says as a Chinese American, he felt it was his "duty and honor to educate the public about the misusage of Chinese characters."

A reader e-mailed Tang this photo of a friend's tattoo. It's supposed to read "bad boy" in Chinese, except the order of last two characters has been reversed.

NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5150077
 
Originally posted by: StrangerGuy
The pic in NPR literally means "Bad child boy" in Chinese.
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hehehe

Ming must be having fun reading this crap in the NBA>>>!
 
some japanese guy was doing it on purpose, heard it on the new. he thinks people don't deserve to have sacred words, so he tatoos insults.
 
I saw this POS Hyundai and some dork put Mitsubishi in huge Japanese Kanji in the rear window. I'm sure he couldn't read it but I could.
 
Originally posted by: Agnostos Insania

Originally posted by: Pepsei
some japanese guy was doing it on purpose, heard it on the new. he thinks people don't deserve to have sacred words, so he tatoos insults.
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Awesome.
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Real awesome :roll:

And you'd probably call a white guy who purposely fvcked up on minorities' tattoes a racist, right?
 
I once saw in a tattoo mag of an arm tattoo that was supposed to say 'Strength' in chinese... but it was actually the word 'fake' (the magazine reported it was 'strength' too... so they didn't know it was wrong either)!
 
Originally posted by: Doggiedog
I saw this POS Hyundai and some dork put Mitsubishi in huge Japanese Kanji in the rear window. I'm sure he couldn't read it but I could.
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i've seen an altima that has a sticker written in chinese saying "powered by chevrolet" on the windshield.
 
Originally posted by: Pepsei
some japanese guy was doing it on purpose, heard it on the new. he thinks people don't deserve to have sacred words, so he tatoos insults.
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'sacred words' :roll:
 
Originally posted by: Looney
Originally posted by: Pepsei
some japanese guy was doing it on purpose, heard it on the new. he thinks people don't deserve to have sacred words, so he tatoos insults.
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'sacred words' :roll:
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was that missspelled? sorry i took an ambien about 20 minutes ago... er , i noticed that it should be "news" instead of new too. 😱

While many bad tattoos can be redone or modified, this is not true in all cases. Prime examples are where English or Asian character tattoos are poorly translated, drawn or improperly spelled. What we call the "Engrish" errors-often seen on T-shirts, motorscooters, menus, warning signs, and other textual messages in Asia, or bad English-to-Mandarin translations errors. With so many English Teachers and other language experts in Taiwan, chances are rare that one would get a seriously bad Engrish tattoo, but be safe and check the translation around for type style, meaning and spelling.

One such sad character case concerns an 18-year-old UK hairdresser who got a tattoo that he thought had the characters for "Love", "Honor", and "Obey", but actually read "At the end of the day this is an ugly boy" in Mandarin. (Photo 2) (source: Metro (London) June 6th 2002). And often, just as bad, there are many ways characters and Western text can be written, so be careful. It would be silly to get a tattoo that says "Sexy Sally" on your arm but have it written in cartoonish characters. And, without meaning to sound cynical, most tattoos outlast the love that inspired them, so it might be smarter to get a locket or a ring or a temporary tattoo for your sweetheart instead of branding his/her name on your arm in ink.
For more stories on Engrish and character tattoos, please visit http://www.hanzismatter.com and http://www.engrish.com/
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Originally posted by: BigJ
Real awesome :roll:

And you'd probably call a white guy who purposely fvcked up on minorities' tattoes a racist, right?
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Umm.... what?

I find it extremely annoying and moronic that people that have absolutely no idea how to read a certain language tattoo it on themselves so they can pretend to be sophisticated, mysterious, or learned. They deserve it for being such idiots.
 
Originally posted by: Pepsei
Originally posted by: Looney
No, i just think it's pretentious to think some words are 'sacred' and shouldn't be used.
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how about general's chicken?. 😀
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"Kerri Baker, a Carlow College freshman, paid $50 to have the symbols for ?beautiful goddess? etched above her belly button, but when she went into Szechuan Express Asian Noodle Shop sporting a bare midriff, the giggling employees explained to her that the tattoo really said, ?Insert General Tso?s Chicken Here!?"

bwa hahahahahahahaahahah

?I don?t even like General Tso?s!? Baker sobbed. ?I?m a vegetarian!?

*passes out*
 
You won't see a Chinese person sporting a big letter 'E"! or "C" on their lower back because it's, well, stupid.
 
And you'd probably call a white guy who purposely fvcked up on minorities' tattoes a racist, right?
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Nope, because there is no parallel. I'd be laughin at a white guy doing the same thing in Japan, as it has nothing to do with race, but merely playing on the exoticism of the letters in a particular language.

English letters are boring as hell. Try the letters of the Singhalese language for real beauty: Here or Here
 
Originally posted by: Agnostos Insania
Originally posted by: BigJ
Real awesome :roll:

And you'd probably call a white guy who purposely fvcked up on minorities' tattoes a racist, right?
Click to expand...

Umm.... what?

I find it extremely annoying and moronic that people that have absolutely no idea how to read a certain language tattoo it on themselves so they can pretend to be sophisticated, mysterious, or learned. They deserve it for being such idiots.
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i'm armenian but do not know how to read or write it. i go tmy moms name tattooed on the back of my arm in armenian, i verified with her first how the spelling before i got it done. am i a moron? i didn't do it to seem sophisticated, mysterious, or learned.
 
haha...yeah, if an asian wants to get an english word that he doesn't understand tattooed on him/her...same deal applies. although I couldn't see how a scenario like that would actually come up 😛

I think I'm going to get my first tattoo sometime soon...should be interesting.
 
You guys see on Miami ink when the guy had something tattoo in Italian... but he spelled it wrong? And HE did the spelling!
 
Originally posted by: BillyBatson
i'm armenian but do not know how to read or write it. i go tmy moms name tattooed on the back of my arm in armenian, i verified with her first how the spelling before i got it done. am i a moron? i didn't do it to seem sophisticated, mysterious, or learned.
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I think you know what I meant, at least I hope you do. You did research and the word(s) actually had meaning to you.
 
Originally posted by: DigDug
i'm armenian
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Billy, is there a cultural reason why every last name I've ever seen on an Aermenian ends with "ian"? I've always wondered.
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"Ian" means "son of". Sort of like, in English, Johnson, which means son of John.
 
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