From Istanbul with Gibberish

The downloadable gibberish “Asian font” has finally reached the country of Turkey.A recent posting in BMEzine’s gallery titled “Art by Vaso” displays this piece of gem:http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60421/high/bmegl258969.jpgReader U.A. from Istanbul has also sent me these two photos:Despite all the recent frictions between South Korea and Japan, it...

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Happy Mistake

Unlike tattoos, t-shirts are less permanent. They can be tossed away quickly to discard the embarrassment. Yet, for that brief moment of hearing people quietly discussing what is on your t-shirt is still quite uncomfortable. Fearing the few minutes of uncertainly will come back to haunt you, it lingers in the back of your mind. 高興手違, what does this...

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Ground Shipping System

I don’t know if the gibberish circled in red is supposed to be two characters or one.(original)If it was meant to be one character, then it would be the botched 陆 (陸), which means “land, ground, continent”. It could also be the simplified 書 (书) with a missing dot and simplified 撃 (击). The two other characters are 拾 (pick up, collect, tidy up) and...

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Female Horse Rice

Most people love their mother or mothers (children with lesbian parents and/or born from fertilized eggs via surrogate mother would have more than one mother). But, it takes a special talent to screw up “mommy” so bad that it would be read as “female horse rice”. http://www.tatuadores.com/japo-kini-daktat-sevilla-DSCF2568.JPG 媽咪 is Chinese transliteration...

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Rice Covered Balls

Since both Chinese and Japanese use the same or similar Chinese characters, translations often change their meanings when they are read one way or another. (original)The top character 米 means “rice”, and in Japanese, it is used to represent “America”. Second character 盖 means “cover, hide, protect”.Last character 丸 means “small round object; pellet,...

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Getting Fucked

The young lady bearing this tattoo by Juan at Starlight Tattoo in Belleville, NJ, probably thought no one would ever guess what the two characters meant. http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A60417/high/bmepb255095.jpgThe top character 操 normally means “conduct, run, control, manage”, but in Chinese slang, it is the equivalent of “fuck”. The bottom character...

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Red & Black

Ryan emailed me this morning after he saw an article about my site in the newspaper. He said the translations of his tattoos were given to him long time ago, he still wanted to verify to see if they are correct or not. In his email, he has mentioned that the center set of four black characters with red outline 士小王玄where chosen solely based on their...

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Hiragana Times - Badges of Ignorance

In the upcoming issue of Hiragana Times magazine (printed in both English and Japanese), there is an article about Hanzi Smatter by J. M. Ventura titled "Badges of Ignorance".Click on the following images for larger view or download pdf file here.Thanks Hiragana Times and Mr. J. M. Ventura.Tian(cover full size)(page 25 full size)(page 26 full size)(page...

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THE DORK REPORT: Tattoos & T-shirts make Chinese culture trivial

Before Alaric Dearment went back to Ball State University to pursue a degree in Journalism, he has spent several years living in China.In today’s Ball State Daily News, his column “The Dork Report” has turned the spotlight on Americans who are embraced in the “Asian Craze”.(link & pdf)One example he used in his article was 和.I've seen T-shirts...

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CBC Radio Freestyle Interview

http://www.cbc.ca/freestyleI have just finished a phone interview with CBC Radio this morning.I was told it was aired in "Freestyle" segment of the show later today (or tonight depends on which part of the world you living in.)Have a listen everyone, and please let me know what you think.7.45 MB mp3 audio file here and here.Thanks,TianPs. Here is...

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Prince Mu-Chao

http://profiles.yahoo.com/princemuchaoI don’t know who “Prince Mu-Chao” is, nor if that is his real name.He first approached me via email last week, “My wife and I are looking at getting a couple of tattoos using Chinese characters, and since I am a longtime fan of your site, I thought I would ask you your opinion of Formosa Translation. Does...

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Calligraphy

How do you tell someone that she is not as talented as she thought?I was faced with this question few weeks ago when Valerie of No Limit Artistic Design emailed me. She wanted to include some Chinese characters (she called them “symbols”) into a wall mural design she was working on. In her email, she has attached a photo of her previous work of Japanese...

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“Alzheimer”

Patrick did not want “knowledge” and “power” to be tattooed on him in plain English, so he made his own design by combining two images he saw on a couple of tattoo websites.The good news is all the characters are correctly done.Although "authority" is usually written as 権威 in Chinese, but according to Unihan database, 威権 is also accepted as “authority”...

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"Pride"

Mya's roommate got this tattoo done and claims it meant "pride"."Pride"?!Only if he is enrolled in the special education class.This 傲 is "pride", what he got is 敖, and it means "[to] rambl...

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"Beauty"

larger viewWhat is more embarrassing than discovering your Chinese character tattoo 美 does not mean what you thought it meant and it is done upside down?...

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"Lower Class"

Scott wants to have several characters tattooed on him.In his first email, he explains:“This is a tattoo that I want to get Number 4. In the center it is suppose to say ‘family love.’ On the left, I have two names, ‘Zoe’ on top and ‘Angie’ at bottom. On the right, I have two names, ‘Grady’ on top and ‘Jordan’ at bottom.”Surprised by the translator’s...

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BBC Radio Five Live

http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/upallnight.shtmlI have just finished a phone interview with BBC Radio Five Live today.I was told it was aired in “Up All Night” segment of the show later today or tonight depends on which part of the world you living in.Have a listen everyone, and please let me know what you think.4.85 MB mp3 file here or h...

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"Joe"

In Joe’s email, along with the photo, he says:“After seeing your site I probably would be happier if I remained ignorant, but I have to know - what does my tattoo say? It was supposed to say, ‘Joe’.My only defense in getting this tattoo, about 10 years ago, which I could not read, I was young and stupid.” The three character tattooed are nowhere near...

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New York Times and Los Angeles Times

My interviews with New York Times and Los Angeles Times have been printed.Cool Tat, Too Bad It’s Gibberish (pdf & jpeg)New York Times – April 2, 2006Indelibly lost in translation (pdf)Los Angeles Times – March 19, 2006I will update more when I get the printed versions. In the meantime, I would like to thank everyone for your support which has...

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