Text Tattoos

You’re listening to A Way with Words, a show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

I was in the grocery line the other day, and up ahead of me was a woman who had a sizable tattoo on her shoulder.

And so I was leaning forward and trying to get a better look at it because it wasn’t an image.

I’m looking around and I’m seeing more and more people wearing tattoos that have text rather than images.

And it’s got me wondering, why would you choose text rather than an image?

And if you were going to choose text, I mean, I’m not going to get a tattoo, but if I were to do that, what would I say?

Right.

It’s a good question.

Some people choose biblical verses.

Some people choose bits of songs that they love.

Some people choose misspellings.

Those are my favorite ones.

Bad translations.

Yeah, that’s a nonstop source of amusement is the people who write things like better than you, T-H-E-N.

I’m like, okay, that’s a great tattoo, I guess.

Right, right. Or something from a foreign language that is a bad translation.

Do you think you would regret text less over time than you would an image?

I don’t know. You know, I actually started asking people.

I was at the farmer’s market this weekend and there was a woman selling almonds and she had this tattoo on her bicep that said, live and let live.

And so I said, why the text? And she said, I do it to remind myself of that motto.

You know, I sleep with my arm here and so it’s the first thing I see when I wake up.

And she said that the other reason that she really likes it is because it’s in her own handwriting.

I mean, she has really good handwriting.

Oh, I see.

But she said that that made it more personal.

I mean, some people put quotes from their grandfather.

So is it kind of like a message from yourself from the past?

I mean, is this like a letter that you forwarded from your own youth, kind of the wisdom that you need to remember as you get older?

Is that what this is?

Maybe it could be, although, gosh, I’d hate to have my thoughts from my 20s on my arm now.

And I have to say that some of the text I’ve seen is rather sappy, but maybe it does the job for them.

Maybe it motivates them, if that’s what they’re in it for.

Some of it, though, isn’t about motivation.

It’s just somebody showing that they’re a badass, right?

Yeah, or they’re sophisticated and literary.

On their arm.

Yeah, they have a passage from Moby Dick or something.

I mean, I actually saw a picture of somebody.

Oh, really?

Yeah, who had a little line from Moby Dick.

We’ve talked about my favorite text tattoo of all time.

Do you remember this?

Oh, no, I don’t.

Steve Klein-Edler, who is an editor at American Heritage, has the international phonetic alphabet tattooed on his shoulder.

Well, you’re a slang lexicographer.

What should we?

No, it’s so passing, though.

I’d have to get it all lasered out every five years, right?

Exactly.

That’s the thing.

Yeah, yeah.

With slang, I didn’t think about that.

But, I mean, that’s for me.

I’m not sure what words I could commit to unless they were something like carpe diem.

You have no tattoos.

I have no tattoos and no plans to get any.

But if you were going to get one, is there something you could commit to?

I’m not the guy to ask, but I think we’ve got listeners who could probably answer that question.

Let’s find out.

If you’ve got a text tattoo or you’re thinking of getting one, what did you choose and why did you choose it and where did you put it?

877-929-9673.

Email words@waywordradio.org.