• ABCDE@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I know someone who has something tattooed on him: in Thai.

    As in, it’s a phrase which says ‘in Thai’ in Thai. So when people ask him, what is that? He says ‘it’s in Thai’. They say yes, but what is it? ‘It’s ‘in Thai’’. Yes, but…

    You get the idea.

  • undergroundoverground@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I knew a guy who had “bad to the bone” written on his neck in Chinese. The problem is, the phrase doesn’t translate at all.

    So, his tattoo read as “my bones are bad”

    Tbf, he was a clown and had something like that coming.

    • bricklove@midwest.social
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      1 month ago

      Now the day I was born The nurses all gathered 'round And they gazed in wide wonder At the horror they had found The head nurse spoke up Said, “Leave this one for dead” She could tell right away That my bones were bad

      My bones are bad My bones are bad B-B-B-B-Bad B-B-B-B-Bad B-B-B-B-Bad

      My bones are bad

    • Unbecredible@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      Not his fault, that’s just a mean or ignorant tatooist. Why wouldn’t they just do a literal word for word translation if there’s no equivalent phrase in Chinese?

      Like if the phrase “great to the neck” has some special meaning in Chinese but not English, you can still write the english words “great to the neck” on someone’s skin.

  • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    Not the first time I’ve Lemmied this story, and it’s not a tattoo it’s a motorcycle decal. Kid turns up on a Kawasaki forum to show off his Ninja’s paint scheme, and on the front cowling are five kanji figures, the first and the third were identical. Someone asked “Why does your bike say ‘pig dog pig bird horse?’” He says “Nah man, it says N-I-N-J-A. That’s how you spell ‘Ninja’ in Japanese.”

  • BudgetBandit@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    I was thinking of getting 何か日本語で “nanika nihongo de” and if someone would ask me what it meant I’d say “something in Japanese”

  • Aggravationstation@feddit.uk
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    1 month ago

    In Wales road signs are printed in both English and Welsh. When a new sign was being made someone sent the English part to a translator, who’s out of office message was in Welsh. They assumed that message was the translation and printed it on the sign.

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mistranslated-welsh-traffic-sign/

    Not a translation error but the worst tattoo I ever saw on someone was a guy with a bloody tampon tramp stamp.

    • bitwaba@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      bloody tampon tramp stamp

      “bloody” as in bloody idiot, or “bloody” as in black pudding?

          • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz
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            1 month ago

            Considering the specific context, that’s what makes it very not-so-ambiguous.

            And I’m sure folks that identify a specific way would also agree.

            Plus, the OP confirmed it. 🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♀️

            • glitchdx@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              So I went looking to find out what you’re talking about, and I came up with nothing. So linky with the op comment confirming what they meant.

              There are plenty of snarky things I could say. I refrain from being the ass I’d like, you haven’t proven to deserve it.

              • SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz
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                1 month ago

                I was not at all trying to be snarky in any possible way. I guess I should have been more clear in saying what I really meant: women would probably understand this more clearly than others. My apologies if I seemed like I was trying to upset you in anyway. Tone is weird through text.

                But here’s the confirmation: https://feddit.uk/comment/12718867

                • glitchdx@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  i think I was getting two different conversations mixed together, my snark was intended for someone else. i apologize for that.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      Given your job is a translator, why would you assume the person emailing you can understand Welsh? That one is entirely on the translator.

  • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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    1 month ago

    I remember seeing a FB post ages ago, of some dude saying that he went to Japan to tattoo “God is faithful” in Japanese because he didn’t trust local tattooists to write it right. The post was a photo of the tattoo on the dude’s arm.

    Someone pointed that it said something along the lines of “idiot stranger”.

    Mr “I went to Japan” complained that was impossible, because he went to Japan.

    The other person posted a screenshot of the kanji on google translate and lo, “idiot stranger”

    • glitchdx@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      it’s old, because it has reddit silver, but it’s not that old, because it has reddit silver.

  • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I never tattooed it on myself, or anyone else, but I used to work at a local greasy spoon, and knew a Professor of English that came in regularly, who was originally from China. I asked him for the name specific characters that phonetically made up the syllables of my and my girlfriend’s names, he went to wait for his food, and came back with the characters he thought would work best. I used those to burn the characters into the weed stash box that she and I had made.

    We told everyone that asked that we had no clue what it actually meant, it just sounded like our names.

  • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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    1 month ago

    I was in line behind someone who had 安 on her nape. I’m guessing she was going for a meaning of like peaceful or restful or something along those lines but you need a compound like 安心 or 安静 for that.

    The character alone means more like cheap, at least in Japanese. Maybe it’s different in Chinese.

    • rcuv@programming.dev
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      1 month ago

      In Chinese, 安 by itself can mean secure. I think.

      edit: it can also be a surname. but still seems a bit strange to me to have that character by itself.

      • Annoyed_🦀 @monyet.cc
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        1 month ago

        Yep, Chinese like to use single character to mean something, but the word generally have positive meaning so it’s used in name as well. Though i’m not sure if it’s surname, never heard anyone with that name, given name though yeah.

    • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      I bestow upon you the title of 凡人 (bonjin), in Japanese means an unremarkably mediocre person. You can tattoo it and tell people it means psychopath instead of course, who’s stopping you?

  • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
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    1 month ago

    I was once at a convenience store, run by a Chinese man, and this 30ish girl in a tank top, obviously a regular comes in and says @look I got my sons name tattooed. Then she says, “look, Aitor@“. The guysmiles nervously. She leaves, and I ask the guy, who es shaking his head, and he says that it was some random mataré sign.

  • BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Asian beauty makes me think of an ad for makeup. Alternatively, those cool looking mountains from old looking paintings that look like giant ant mounds.