http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/index
Neither of us understood what ESPN's intention of plastering this particular character on their site, especially when Spring is NFL's offseason.
After reading the site, the only I can think of is the "haiku" theme. Even with that, why didn't ESPN just use 俳句?
Later Stacy emailed me this photo of Miami Dolphins' Matt Roth.
larger view
According to a 2005 interview with Pro Football Weekly, Roth claimed "I got some Chinese writing — my last name."
Roth is correct about they are simplified Chinese characters, however I really doubt his last name is 疼闹扑权.
Roth's tattoo might just be in a fake "Chinese alphabet" font like that of JEAN.
ReplyDelete-Alan
Matt Roth was probably going by some kind of kanji chart again. He's probably trying to spell R-O-T-H with kanji.
ReplyDeleteLooks like someone was using the Asian Font again. Four letters in his surname, four characters on his arm ...
ReplyDeleteIf it's a "Chinese alphabet" someone must have made up a new one since it doesn't match the chart at all, which has held up through the previous tattoos.
ReplyDeleteWell, anyone can make up a "Chinese alphabet." It's easy to do. Just pick any 26 (or 52) Chinese characters, add some punctuation if you like, assign the letters to the Chinese characters and voila!
ReplyDeleteIt's also nearly impossible to break the code unless you have enough examples using the same code (or cipher), or happen to find the key chart.
-Alan
Tian,
ReplyDeleteI've seen this painting now, and I wanted you to say what's written on it.
http://www.markryden.com/paintings/two/magid.html
His paintings sorta reminds me of Silent Hill.. well, hope you enjoy it.
I'm a huge fan of your weblog. Everytime I see hanzi characters, it reminds me of you. :D Whenever something weird appear, I'll tell you.
Congratulations!
Kel
Kelly,
ReplyDeleteThat is "aum" from Hinduism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu
As near as I can translate, the characters of Roth's tattoo mean something like "troublemaker," or "challenge authority," or maybe even a melodramatic reading "I answer to no one," or "chip on my shoulder." Come to think of it, I think the nearest idiomatic English translations are "Bad Ass Mo Fo" or "One Tough Customer." I don't follow football, is that his reputation? It couldn't be "Rebel Without A Cause?" could it?
ReplyDelete