http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A50420/high/bmegl053655.jpg
油断大敵 is a Japanese phrase that means "unpreparedness is one's greatest enemy" or "he that is too secure is not safe".
But in Chinese, the tattoo above would then read as "lack/sever of oil, big enemy/problem" or "oil crisis".
Perhaps the owner of this tattoo drives a large SUV?
油 = oil, fat, grease, lard; paints
断 = sever, cut off; interrupt
大 = big, great, vast, large, high
敵 = enemy, foe, rival; resist
Kind of ammusing... but hey, it was correctly done. That seems to be a rarity.
ReplyDeleteThis person also appears to have an innoculation gun scar. This suggests that the person is 1) quite old (unlikely from the pic) 2) Received some heavy duty military vaccinations. 3) Emigrated to the US and was given the smallpox vaccination by the INS 4) none of the above.
ReplyDeleteTheories 2 & 3 could interplay nicely with the "oil crisis" interpretation.
Indy,
ReplyDeleteThat is not a gun scar. It is scar from vaccination.
The person is from South Africa if you go to the BME site. Countries other than the US still vaccinate like that (usually for polio, iirc)
ReplyDeleteTian, what do you make of these characters? The person in question was told that the top characters mean 'REBELLION' and that the bottom one means 'DRAGON'. What do you think?
ReplyDeletehttp://img249.echo.cx/img249/4954/hpim00783lz.jpg
Anon,
ReplyDeleteRegarding the photo in your comment, the characters are correct.
反逆 means "treason/treachery/mutiny/rebellion/insurrection" in Japanese.
竜 is a Japanese Kanji and means "dragon".
Thank you. You've been extremely helpful.
ReplyDeleteWait, so you're saying that the top characters are regular Japanese and the bottom character is Kanji? Also, is there any meaning to them in Chinese?
ReplyDelete竜 is a Japanese specific character, and it is not recognized in Chinese.
ReplyDelete反逆 may not mean "rebellion" in Chinese.
Does Chinese use the character 滝 at all?
ReplyDelete滝 is not used in Chinese vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it means "cut my fat, greasy arm off to spite my enemies."
ReplyDelete"Inoculation gun" suggests vaccination and might be used against polio, but scarring wouldn't be usual with polio vaccination. Could be BCG against tuberculosis but doesn't look like it. As Indy said, think smallpox vaccination, perhaps of a military person (threats of germ warfare) or someone who's been around for a while.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the phrase in the tattoo was the name of a 2003 Japanese movie directed by Izuru Narushima.
ReplyDeleteIt was called "Yudan Taiteki". The Chinese title for the movie was "粗心的代价" or "粗心大敌", which means "The price of carelessness".
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the kind of BCG scar that you get when you're vaccinated as an infant (shallow, wide crater). When teenagers/adults are vaccinated it tends to be more of a shiny red bump. mine took a freaking long time to heal...
ReplyDeleteshi-hsia
nigeria is ugly
ReplyDeleteAh, you young folks! Only smallpox vaccination leaves a ring like that. I had one in the 70s because I visited the UK just after an outbreak. On westerners it's a sign of age.
ReplyDeleteBCG is for tuberculosis. I had that as TB was historically bad in Quebec. It's the one where they bend you over a chair and gouge your back with broken glass, then drip the vaccine on to it. Polio vaccination is oral in most countries, but injected it's just a jab.