Carpe Diem

http://garbolino.blogspot.com/2005/06/midsummer-in-dalsland.htmlReader Johan emails:"I recently met a girl with the tattoo 亳 on her arm. She claimed it meant something like 'Carpe Diem'. I've never seen it before and I can't find anything in dictionaries that would support this.Any idea about it? A picture can be found in this entry in my blog:...

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The Art of War

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?r=1&isbn=0762415983http://a1204.g.akamai.net/7/1204/1401/04111212011/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/8640000/8644975.jpgThanks to several readers for emailing this gem in.This "The Best Selling Translation" edition of 孫子兵法 (Sun Tzu's Art of War) on Barnes & Noble's website has all...

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"Light Painter"

Reader Gordon emails:"Hi there, I stumbled across your site looking for some info. I admit to having gotten a tattoo a couple of years back, and like many, I am now concerned that it might not mean what I hope it means. Am I correct in understanding that you're willing to help translate characters correctly for people in my situation? I'd love any...

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Ambiguous Design Element

Annoymous emails:"Hi, I do color separations for silkscreen printing. Lately I have been getting a lot of designs with Hanzi like the one attached. Do they mean anything or are they merely used as an ambiguous design element?"From my previous email exchange with representatives of apparel companies, these Chinese characters are used randomly as design...

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Ultra Violent Skin Block

Reader Xavier emails:"Good evening Tian! I love browsing through your site, and seeing you agree to translate non-tattoo, I'd like to know the significance (if relevant) of this one. It's a t-shirt I have, and love. When people ask me about the meaning, I often answer that it means "please kick me" or "Asian people are lame" or "very small penis",...

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Sydney Morning Herald - Radar Section

http://radar.smh.com.au/archives/2005/06/post_3.htmlReader Sputnik emails:"Hi Tian, love your site. I discovered it after reading an article in the Sydney Morning Herald. The Hanzi Smatter article was in the Radar section of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper June 15, page 7."The charming article was written by Erin Biba titled "What your tattoo...

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July 2005 Issue of Flash Magazine

Sometimes I wonder if anyone in the tattoo community really care about the accuracy of tattoos of Chinese Hanzi and Japanese Kanji characters.After flipping through a few pages of the July 2005 issue of FLASH magazine,and I see this:I don't expect every single tattoo artist to hold Degrees in Asian Language Study, but when you are a major publishing...

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"Talking Dragon Love"

Reader Mikael emails:"Tian, my cousin just got this tattoo on his chest. He claims that it i’s a pure sound message, but I wanted to check with you, so that he hasn'’t screwed up or anything. He didn'’t want to tell me what the sound message was either, so if you know, please tell me. Best Regards."Regardless what "sound message" he is trying to express...

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Lenta Smatter

Reader Konstantin has emailed me an excellent piece about Hanzi misuse in Russian media, Lenta.ru:"You'd think that [Russian] having a long border with China would make a difference, but..."Than...

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"I don't know"

tat_idontknow.jpgWhy waste the money and effort to state the obvio...

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Anime Junkie Trash

Reader Peng Guo emails:"Tian, Being a fan of Hanzismatter, I'd like to show you something. I entered the store, 'Hot Topic' and discovered the t-shirt with a kanji. I wonder, how does the 废 (the simpified form of 廢) connect to the words, 'Anime Junkie'? The meanings of the kanji, 'discard' or 'terminate', aren't close to the words..."The slang...

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"Book From The Sky"

http://www.xubing.com/BookFromSky/p03.jpgReader David Stone emails:Dear Tian, Thank you for producing your wonderful blog "Hanzismatter". I check it daily. As someone who reads modern (simplified) Chinese, I am also annoyed and puzzled by people who chose to tattoo Chinese characters on their body without a clear understanding of what the characters...

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Evil Hand Bag

Reader Matthias emails:"Hi Tian, attached you will find a picture of a hand bag that I saw in Germany. If I'm not totally wrong, the kanji means 'bad', which is the perfect kanji next to a heart symbol. :-)"I wonder which outfit would match well with this hand bag, perhaps an "I hate myself and I want to die" sweat shirt?惡 = evil, wicked, bad, f...

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A for Alexa

Reader Alexa emails:My friends and I are getting tattoos. We are getting each others first initial in Chinese. After reading some of the horror stories on your web site I want to make sure I get the correct letters: A for Alexa C for Crissy T for Tonya Again we just want the letters. I am also interested in a phrase like friendship or something...

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