Bad Ink aka what the suicide girls have
I was talking with my friend Leah the other day via IM while I was in the library, a girl walked by me with a barbed wire tattoo on her bicep. Not original by any means but the thing was the tat was just on the front of the bicep, it didn’t go all the way around. Leah informed me that the inner part of the arm is really sensitive so she probably balked at the pain.
We decided that it was kind of selling out, like you are there you might as well go the full nine right? It is kind of like getting in a plane ready to go skydiving and then at the last minute deciding you will only do a tandem jump. Or you are about to violate your cell mate in prison and decide only to lick his nipple, what is the point you know?
This led to a whole conversation of what is bad ink? The one thing that I have noticed since I moved out here to Southern California is just the ridiculous amount of bad ink people have out here. After much discussion I think we can break bad ink down into a few categories.
1) The cliche- Tribal tattoos, roses, barbed wire and tramp stamps all have officially fallen into the cliche category. Now if you have had any of these for more than a year you are okay but going forward I think we can safely assume that it is no longer cool to get any of these. Although I do love the tramp stamps, I have a weakness for them and I am not ashamed to admit it. That and belly chains, I don’t know why but I will come out and say I adore them both.
2) The sentiment now ruined- Wedding bands, anything with an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend, the name of a band that quickly became uncool, the number of your favorite player that ended up getting traded. There is nothing that is more likely to curse and make something totally good go to shit than getting ink of it. The best is people that don’t tell the other person that they are getting it done and then have to tell them. Which 9 times out of 10 really leads to an uncomfortable situation.
“Linda I really love you, in fact I love you so much I got your name tattooed on my heart.”
“I just had a three-some with your brother and uncle.”
“Shit.”
3) It’s not your culture- Anything with Asian symbols, flags for countries when you are really only 1/4 of that ethnicity, and anything written in Gaelic. Yeah I could go with the stock joke that it probably says “I like fat chicks” in Chinese on your arm but why go there? This might be one of the worst categories because people always try and tell you a story to back up what they got…
“Yeah I got stabbed once so I decided to get the Chinese word for pin cushion tattooed on my arm.”
“I had a life changing event so I went with the ying yang symbol.”
“Well my grandmother is like half Navajo so this wind talker, that is my heritage.”
Right…..
4) The what the fuck was I thinking tat- Flaming bananas behind the ear, the giant gecko lizard on the forearm, a frog… anywhere, the giant arm sleeve of every Kiss album cover…
These are my personal favorite tats because really soon after people get them their friends start giving them shit about it they always justify that they can get it removed. Of course they don’t understand the cost or pain involved but you can see the doubt creeping into their head the more they get shit about it.
“Rebecca I can’t believe you got a tattoo around your neck that says, “Death to the Establishment” aren’t you in college to be an accountant?”
“Well my boyfriend said it looked good, besides I am young, when I am ready to get a job I can just go and get it removed.”
“You know it takes like 6-12 visits and it costs like $400 per visit.”
“Well what is $4,000 when I will be a high level accountant?”
“Not with that shitty tat you won’t.”
“Well I guess I could always strip.”
“Not with that shitty tat you won’t.”
“Well I always could be a suicide girl, they will take anybody.”
What do you think is the worst kind of tattoo, and what do you think is the best?
Just for the record I vote Henry Rollins bar code tattoo on the back of his neck as the best…
I have a huge tramp stamp that spans my lower back. And shitty art. And the cliche butterfly. And asian symbols.
LOL
I think putting someone elses name on your own body is bad ink. unless its your kids, thats different, but seriously is that other person worth it to have their name on your body.. I don’t think so.
also anything that`s a memorial tattoo is alright.
I was going to right mom in old english across my chest
my wife and her 2 girlfriends have UPC bar codes on the back of there neck. They are readable and are a registered number with the slave registry as belonging to their masters, as I am a registered master. They are not all pointless see http://www.slaveregistry.com
ew. craig, that is the most pointless tattoo anyone can ever get
people that bash others tattoos are annoying. It’s their body and not yours. True that people need to put some more thought into their tattoos and not try to be trendy but who are you to judge. Proper etiquite amongst the tattoo crowd is keep your opinions to yourself unless personally asked. P.S. Anyone who gets a bar code tatted on them is dumb. That’s the mark of the beast, might as well get I love satan tattooed on yourself. Honestly I have gotten so covered and have so many artist freinds I will get literally anything tattoed on me so long as the artist is good and if someone says something I tell em to fu*k off. Sure most of mine have some meaning but when I have freinds who are great artists and tell me they want to tatt ‘this certain tattoo’ on me for free I go for it. I have a zombie day of the dead and I’m not Hispanic and I have an oriental full sleeve with shoulder cap and pec and I’m not oriental but the work speaks for itself. No one person is ‘pure blood’ so saying you shouldn’t get an ethnic tatt because you are not that ethnic is bogus. Quit hatin’
Did you really just type quit hatin’
Hang yourself
Rollins didnt have a barcode on his neck! he had the black flag!
I had a boyfriend with the initials of his ex and her two kids on his back. One day I mentioned that he may want to get them covered up, if our relationship was going anywhere. He came home later that evening with three solid black blocks tattooed on his back. I dumped him for his stupidity and haste.