James Lileks: Some Tattoos Shout About You

The Minneapolis/St Paul Star Tribune ^ | September 9, 2004 | James Lileks

[quidnunc]

You there: hey! You're a mother of three, a Bush voter, you sing in the church choir, you have a master's degree in pre-Renaissance art, and you have a gigantic flaming skull tattoo on your neck. Right? I know you're out there. Because every time I write about tattoos, and how I find some of the modern examples of Skin Adornment a bit excessive, I get a letter from someone who insists that she's all of the above, and there's nothing peculiar about her at all. True. EXCEPT THE GIGANTIC FLAMING SKULL TATTOO.

Let me be clear: I do not favor banning tattoo parlors. I do not favor stoning people with inky flesh, or herding them into pens, or encouraging anyone to shout FIE when they see someone who has decided to engrave his facial epidermis with a spider web for the rest of his mortal days. Whatever. Live and let live. It's your body. But after my last trip to the State Fair, I really wonder what people are thinking. …

I'm not talking about the classics — the anchor tattoo, an emblem of service, a heart with MOM, or any other small embellishments of your biceps' terrain. I mean the florid decorations at the base of the spine, the spiky tribal symbols around the neck, the elaborate tableaux on the back that look like you were horribly burned by an old YES album cover. … All I'm trying to say it this: I know you're trying to tell us something, but it's really not coming across too clearly. Perhaps if you wrote it down on a piece of paper and handed it out, we'd get it.

-snip-

[Constitution Day]

ames Lileks: Some Tattoos Shout About You

Just great, now you're excerpting people's very names.
Here's a "J" for you.

[Constitution Day]

---

Lileks Ping!
If you'd like to be added or removed, just drop me a line...

Note: StarTribune.com is on FR's Excerpt List.

[broadsword]

Yes. Tattoos, purple Mohawks and chunks of metal stuck through the face DO shout something about people. And I am glad they have them. It makes it easier to figure out who to avoid when competence, trust and stability matter.

[Cogadh na Sith]

Bush voter, you sing in the church choir, you have a master's degree in pre-Renaissance art, and you have a gigantic flaming skull tattoo on your neck.

Sounds like my kinda person....

[ClearCase_guy]

Agreed. I especially like this line:

All it says to me is "I'm really not thinking ahead."

When I was young, I had long hair, and I thought it was just terrible that so many people formed a bad opinion of me at first sight. Well, looking back on it, I was no angel. I was not reliable. I broke laws. My long hair told the story more accurately than I thought.

[Prime Choice]

I think a lot of today's tattoos are just garish. Way too overstated. And I don't get the tattoos that girls have on the small of their back. I don't complain about it since they at least didn't mar the beauty of their breasts with those gawdawful designs.

Me, I've got three tattoos...but nobody knows 'cause I don't go out of my way to show 'em off. (One of 'em did make for prime time television coverage following Defcon VII though.)

[Old Professer]

Some people are stuck on the second note on the scale all their lives.

[Redcoat LI]

Classic!

[Constitution Day]

I just had to ping y'all before the moderator fixed it.

[secret garden]

Tattoo you ping.

[Cogadh na Sith]

It makes it easier to figure out who to avoid when competence, trust and stability matter.

How about hidden tattoos?

I've a reputation at work for competence, trustworthiness and stability, yet I have big ol' tattoos hidden under my shirt.

Would you have periodic strip inspections of employees to determine if they are still competent at their jobs?

What if I'm competent, trustworthy and stable and get a tattoo, do I become incompetent, untrustworthy and unstable?

If so, does that change occur immediately when the tattoo needle punctures the skin? Or after the tattoo heals?

Furthermore, Is a person who gets a good tattoo, and likes it, more stable than one who changes her mind and gets it removed?

I await your fascinating insights with breath abated....

[evets]

Hidden tattoos?

[broadsword]

I await your fascinating insights with breath abated....

Go ahead and start breathing. It will oxygenate your brain. It's good for you.

[brownsfan]

"How about hidden tattoos?"

This isn't my debate, but if I may...

I don't think that hidden tattoos are what they are talking about. If you have the foresight to either hide them, or get them in a socially accepted fashion, then you are showing some degree of stability. Now if you get the Mike Tyson face tattoo, that says something completely different.
And you might be just a wee bit senstive on this one.

[NeoCaveman]

Here's a "J" for you.

The J fell off when his beeber got stuned.

[HAL9000]

Just great, now you're excerpting people's very names.

We need to declare a War Against Unnecessary Excerpting and start shaming the people who violate the posting guidelines. It's just laziness on the part of the poster.

[CholeraJoe]

Strange. The chicks always seem to go for the guys with neck tattoos.

[skeeter]

While on vacation this summer I saw more tattoos than I imagined existed. Tattoos on pasty, fat middle aged men. On little old ladies. On 13 year olds.

And not tattoos of ship anchors or that old favorite, 'Mom'. I'm talking barbed wire, extravegantly colored pheonix birds, scorpions, etc. Some looked like Japanese woodblock prints. Many had three or more colors and completely covered one or both arms.

I concluded that many must've been temporary. Can anyone confirm if temporary tattoos are some sort of new craze?

[Cogadh na Sith]

What a fascinating insight!