On Vacation

Dear Readers,

Starting on Dec. 17th, I will be traveling through Oregon and California for three weeks.

Thanks to the great folks at Gmail for hooking me up with Gmail Mobile, so if anyone has any tips about interesting places to visit, please feel free to email me.

In the meantime, please entertain yourselves with this Japanese etiquette guide about how to properly order and consume sushi.

Happy Holidays


-tian

"Ding Dong"

When I saw this photo, the first two questions popped into my mind are:

1. Is the witch dead?

2. Are the fries done?

The four-character phrase (circled in red) on this young man's left forearm is the literal translation that means "the sound of ding-dong".

Arbor Snowboard - "Push"

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Bewitch Hero Energy

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Manzo's Tattoo

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"Friendless"

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51202/high/bmepb175130.jpg

This young man probably did not have a Chinese-speaking friend to verify the tattoo for him.

友 (friend) is missing a horizontal stroke.


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"Hair Splitting"

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51202/high/bmepb174881.jpg

The circled character 亳 is the name of district in Anhui, old captial of Yin.

In one of my previous postings, the owner with the same character tattoo claimed it meant "carpe diem", which is completely wrong.

Or the character should have been 毫 (fine hair; measure of length; 1/1000).


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"Shi"

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Associated Press: Lost in Translation

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"Death Wish"

http://www.painlesswayne.com/SCREENSAVER/KANJI%20WRISTS.jpg

This young man wanted "death wish" (or "death" and "desire") to be tattooed on the insides of his wrists. 死 (death) is missing one dot, and 欲 (desire) has been completely butchered.


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"Fraud Blessing"

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51121/high/bmepb168208.jpg

I am not sure if this person wanted 诈 (fraud) or 祚 （blessing) on his arm.

诈 is the simplified version of 詐.

The lower partial in 爱 (simplified 愛) should be 友, not 反.


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"Gratitude"

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Raven's Lazy Eye

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"Think"

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51116/high/bmepb165499.jpg

When written correctly, 想 means "to think" or "speculate".


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"Sisters"

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51116/high/bmepb166883.jpg

The top character 姉 is a Japanese specific character for "elder sister". Its equivalent in Chinese are 姊 and 姐.

The bottom character 妹 means "younger sister". If the order of two horizontal stokes in 未 partical are reversed and changed the character to 妺, it would mean "wife of the last ruler of the Xia dynasty".

Both characters are somewhat recognizable, but I am astonished by the mangled left partial 女.


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"Peter"

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"Katherine"

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Shawn Marion - The Matrix

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Asian Font Gibberish

According to reader “Quaz”:

“It is a picture of a tattoo taken by some racist, who apparently just downloaded an ‘Asian’ font from the Internet, wrote ‘SAY NO TO NIGGERS’ with that font and let somebody to tattoo it in his back. Of course, since languages don't work that way - which apparently is too much to comprehend for our little white supremacist here - the message is completely incomprehensible, as it actually is just finish with a strange font.”

The tattoo is complete gibberish.

Update: The tattoo shown here is suppose to be Finnish of “SANO EI LAKUPEKOILLE”, which is the English equivalent for “say no to niggers”. The owner of the tattoo used an “Asian” font to mimic the alphabets. What the fool did not realize is that the Chinese do not use alphabets. Way to show your racial superiority by using another culture's language.

Racists are idiots.

Einstein Wants to Know

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Ultimate Mandarin Chinese

Textbook is one of the basic tools for someone to learn a foreign language. When there are typos in a beginning-intermediate level Chinese textbook, usually students would assume they are “correct” and move on.

I wonder how the editors of “Ultimate Mandarin Chinese” would feel after reading this post, especially when the slogan on its cover says “The Most Complete and Up-to-Date Program Available”.

How about recheck your book with a dictionary?

人 = person
入 = enter

"Forever Cherish"

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A20925/high/arm.jpg

I wonder what she is "forever cherishing" (永遠懷念) about.

The poorly done tattoo, perhaps?


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"Bitter"

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51012/high/bmepb147728.jpg

苦 means "bitter", "hardship", or "suffering".

The three exact emotions this guy is going through right now.


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GQ magazine Nov. 2005 Issue

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Etch a Mac

http://www.etchamac.com/powerbook.php

I would like know why someone would voluntarily pay $35+ ($35 for 3x3, $70 for 4x4 and $100 for 5x5 inches with purchase of a Powerbook) to have “All Rights Reserved” (版權所有) in Chinese etched on their Apple Powerbook.

Does having Chinese characters etched on the Powerbook would make it any more unique than the next Joe Schmoe’s Powerbook with the exact same Chinese phrase? Also, does the potential customer even know what the phrase really mean? It could easy be "pretentious douche bag", although that would be a much entertaining choice than "All Rights Reserved".

(Disclaimer: I don't think Apple computer users are douche bags)

Couldn’t they come up with some creative or inspiring phrases? I mean there are literally millions of Chinese literatures to choose from.

Here is one suggestion I have: how about just etch the owner’s contact info in case the laptop has been snatched from their local hot spot.

Ps. Thanks to the "cult of mac" for sending it in.


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The Seven Sins

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Whole-Hearted Devotion

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51022/high/bmepb152472.jpg

誠心誠意 is an old Chinese idiom that meant "in all sincerity", "with one's whole heart", or "whole-hearted devotion".

Ironically, neither the tattooist nor the client has devoted enough effort to make sure the tattoo was done correctly.


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SNL - Tattoo Removal

video: 5.16 MB mov

Jujutsu

http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A50910/high/bmegl129515.jpg

One of the basic principles many martial arts share is not to flaunt. Unfortunately many students have completely disregarded this important teaching, rather brand themselves with superficial gibberish.

Does getting 柔術 (Jujutsu or Jujitsu) tattooed on your body really enhance your martial art skill and help you to find your inner peace? Perhaps getting the correct characters tattooed would help.

Regardless, you are now the laughing stock at your dojo (道場).


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The Four Seasons

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