http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51012/high/bmepb149670.jpg
Due to the tattoo’s poor penmanship, it is very difficult to determine what the client’s original intension was.
The tattooed character could either be 何 (what, why, where, which, how) or 向 (direction).
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If I recall correctly it could also be the chinese astrological character for "dog", missing a stroke?
ReplyDelete狗 (dog)?
ReplyDeleteI'd say it's 何 without thinking twice about it. At least in Japanese, the handwritten form has the person radical completely separated from the rest of the character, unlike the typeface version of the character (such as Mincho font's 何, which is most likely what you see in your browser).
ReplyDeleteit's probably 何 and I'm sure it's a big joke to this guy.
ReplyDeleteStranger: "What does your tattoo mean?"
This guy: "What."
Stranger: "That's what I'm asking you!"
Hilarity ensures.
That would only bring up the old Hu joke... who?
ReplyDeletesome dude: how do you say it in chinese
ReplyDeletethis guy: hé (sounds like 'huh?')
some dude: i SAID, how do you say it in chinese?!!?
this guy: hé
ad nauseaum
this is of course assuming he can actually pronounce chinese words.
Maybe it meant - "Huh?" Sounds similar...
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the guy I saw in Munich some years ago... he was wearing a grey muscle-shirt (he admittedly had a muscular body, which however made it even more ridiculous) with nothing but a white を (Japanese accusative particle) on it - all I could think of was like "you... WHAT?"
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely 何. The イ is clearly separate from the 丁. Also, neither is very "cool" or "exotic" and 何 is probably better-known than 向.
ReplyDelete