from: Wendi B.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 3:42 PM
subject: Tattoo

Hello, I found your blog randomly through "stumbling" and thought I'd toss my tattoo your way. When I got it I thought it meant "calmness" (out of a book at at tattoo parlor I worked for when I was young and dumb).

A few months later, a Japanese exchange student came in and told me it meant "lonely." So I just thought it would be interesting to see if you concur. Sorry it's a little blurry (also the artist used a tattooing method to make it look "brushed on"...and it's old at this point).

Thanks,
Wendi



寂 has multiple meanings when it is used alone. When read as Chinese, it can be interpreted as "solitary". However if it is read as Japanese, it would mean "lonely".

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from: Justin
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 7:42 AM
subject: Tattoo query

Hey,

I was reading your blog and it very interesting. I have been having this dilemma of finding out what is the true meaning of the tattoo I got in my teen years. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a million.



元氣 means "vitality", 気 in the tattoo is distinctively a variant used in Japanese.

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Tropes & ...

Now, in my experience (not necessarily that broad, but there you go), the word "trope" is usually thrown about in a supercilious manner by folks who have themselves never dared to bare their own soul in story to an often unkind world to show how superior they are. In this example, however, over at TV Tropes, the use of the term in so thorough and gleeful a manner has been a revelation, and very helpful to boot! I had no real notion - for example - that MBT was a "world of no grandparents"; this was certainly not intentional but probably reflective of my own real life experience. It is funny how hard it is to fit such things as a granny and/or grandpa into an adventure story - I shall be on the look out for such omissions in future...
That said, neither do I want to include things just because. Either way, thank you TV Tropes, a/ for liking MBT, b/ for helping me see my tale in so succinct a fashion - a great aid to learning this whole writing game.

Speaking of which, I have begun what will , Lord willing, be the next Half-Continent story, and this in turn raises an interesting dilemma:

...Along with the change of the series name in the US from Monster-Blood Tattoo to Tales from the Half-Continent and the (Oh, I surely hope so!) creation of more H-c tales, what on earth do I change the name of this blog to?

Oh, and cheers very much for your comments last post - has anyone got their hands on a copy of Corsers' Hinge (as found in The Legends of Australian Fantasy) yet?

... and happy new financial year.

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Tattoo Ikan Koi - Koi Fish Tattoos

Link : Koi Fish Tattoo Pictures

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from: Kim B.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 8:43 AM
subject: Tattoo

Your blog is fascinating. I have attached a picture of the tattoo I have on my left shoulder blade.

I got it while in New Orleans and like the shape of it, I'm just not sure how it translates. When people ask, I usually tell them: Stupid American (although at the time I was told it means beautiful or beauty).

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Kim B.



If this character is intended to be "beauty", 美, then it is missing a horizontal stroke. However, the joke does not stop there.

Chinese character for sheep is 羊, and what Kim B. has on her shoulder blade does indeed look like sheep with a little dropping.

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from: mike h.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 11:28 AM

Hi,

I have a similar story to those posted on your blog, my sister allowed a trainee to practise his 'art' after a day of indulgent partying and likewise has no idea what this 'disaster' means.

I really hope you can help.

Many thanks.



Whoever got this probably over-stretched a book on a copy machine. The characters size are inconsistent. My favorite part is the tattooist even included the period behind 經.

妙法蓮華經 is Lotus Sutra.

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Tattoo Kaki - Foot Tattoos

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