to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 11:43 PM
subject: Tattoo Help
I got this tattoo years ago. It's supposed to be the Chinese character for smooth. I'm just wondering whether or not that's what it means.
Thanks,
Will
滑 means "[to] slip/slide" or slippery".
Update: Reader Traveler was unsatisfied with my entry and offered an addition of his own:
Tian, I love your site. Though, to toss in a friendly comment, IMHO you often respond to inquiries with just a simple explanation of what some character means. Without delving into the writer's real, unspoken question: "Yeah, but does this make any sense as a tattoo?"
So, if I may humbly attempt to give this poor defaced person some extra context to help understand what he's done to his arm :
The character with meanings of "slip/slide/slippery" is perhaps the closest one could get to a single character meaning "smooth" – but just in the literal sense of "non-rough (surface)". Unless I'm mistaken, it carries no Chinese/Japanese meaning equating to the English slang meanings of "smooth" - sophisticated, cool, polished, urbane, etc. - which I would guess is what Mr P had in mind.
Often, you also (kindly) decline to comment on the artistic merit of the tattoos you present. But, assuming that Mr P would bravely want to know:
It's awful. Just hideous - yet another hack job by an "artist" who simply has no idea how a character is properly constructed.
So, assuming Mr P really wants to know whether his tattoo makes any sense or not: No, from the perspective of a Chinese/Japanese reader, it's both meaningless and ineptly drawn. That said, from the perspective of people who don't read Chinese/Japanese - presumably the majority of this tattoo's "audience" - well, I suppose it may be just fine. Mr P can tell people it means "smooth", or "smooth operator", or "Ninja samurai dragon honor", and that it's an expert artistic rendition by Shaolin calligrapher monks... and few will be the wiser. In that sense, he can go forth and feel comfortable with it!
Tian, I love your site. Though, to toss in a friendly comment, IMHO you often respond to inquiries with just a simple explanation of what some character means. Without delving into the writer's real, unspoken question: "Yeah, but does this make any sense as a tattoo?"
ReplyDeleteSo, if I may humbly attempt to give this poor defaced person some extra context to help understand what he's done to his arm :
The character with meanings of "slip/slide/slippery" is perhaps the closest one could get to a single character meaning "smooth" – but just in the literal sense of "non-rough (surface)". Unless I'm mistaken, it carries no Chinese/Japanese meaning equating to the English slang meanings of "smooth" - sophisticated, cool, polished, urbane, etc. - which I would guess is what Mr P had in mind.
Often, you also (kindly) decline to comment on the artistic merit of the tattoos you present. But, assuming that Mr P would bravely want to know:
It's awful. Just hideous - yet another hack job by an "artist" who simply has no idea how a character is properly constructed.
So, assuming Mr P really wants to know whether his tattoo makes any sense or not: No, from the perspective of a Chinese/Japanese reader, it's both meaningless and ineptly drawn. That said, from the perspective of people who don't read Chinese/Japanese - presumably the majority of this tattoo's "audience" - well, I suppose it may be just fine. Mr P can tell people it means "smooth", or "smooth operator", or "Ninja samurai dragon honor", and that it's an expert artistic rendition by Shaolin calligrapher monks... and few will be the wiser. In that sense, he can go forth and feel comfortable with it!
For what it's worth, 滑らか [nameraka] in Japanese is an adjective that does mean exactly "smooth."
ReplyDeleteAnd 滑る [suberu] is a verb that means "to slide" like in Chinese.
But just the character 滑 by itself does not mean smooth.
Where did these guys get the idea that you can remove the hiragana endings from kanji words and still have the kanji by itself mean the same thing?
This is just silly.
-Alan
I'd like to agree with Traveler. The site's great and I enjoy this type of post, but often they are replied to with just dictionary definitions. No exposition, no witty retort, no nothin', and kind of lacking in the flair that I the site generally possesses.
ReplyDeleteAlso, one could argue that the tattoo means that the skin on the poster's arm is nice and smooth. ;-)
I have to agree with Traveler as well. I love the site and often heckle at the unfortunate fate of those who have been unfortunately branded in one way or another. But when they come forth to seek an explanation, I think those of us who do speak the language(s) should reward them with what they are looking for. Heaven knows, perhaps this will educate those who are only -thinking- about getting a hanzi/kanji tattoo into thinking twice.
ReplyDeleteUgh! how ugly!!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, definitely not smooth.
I can, however, imagine a skiier or snowboarder perhaps getting a tattoo of 滑 along the lines of "slip/slide", and that would be kind of acceptable...
But regardless, as Traveler points out, in this case, as with so many others, even while the character may be "correct", it is uuuuuuugly. The artistic qualities of the characters deal with the formation of the strokes, size and balance, etc. All the more reason to be sure that the artist knows what their doing...
I disagree with Traveler (If that's who you really are). Most of these people submitting there tattoo's are just curious to a simple meaning of what they got, probably when they were too young to think about it, and don't really care what some smart ass thinks. If they could go back and think about what they got I'm sure they would. But what's in the past is in the past.
ReplyDeleteArtistic Merit??? You could go to 50 different people and get 50 different answers to if it's good art or not. Whooo Caresss? As long as the person likes it, that's all that matters.
I know if they don't want some dumb ass commenting on it then they should keep it to themselves, and that's fine. But I think Tian should keep doing it the way she has been. And if people want a smart ass remark they can contact Travler.(If that's who you really are)
I think one day people will have to understand that Chinese words are almost always formed by 2 characters, and that a character alone often can mean 10 different things ... for that tattoo, i hope the guy likes skiing, if not it doesn't make much sense ...
ReplyDeleteIf somebody is 滑, he is untrustworthy and dishonest. Sometimes it is not entirely negative. If somebody lies skilfully to get out of trouble, the person is 滑, which may be quite positive in the correct context.
ReplyDelete(by a native Chinese speaker)
It's a good thing that the true meanings of these characters don't always reflect the parts used in them.
ReplyDelete骨 - bone.
left side of 滑 － 水 aka water.
So, a bone that is in some way connected to water.
awful tattoo....very glad Tian ripped on it. It's just too bad somebody wasn't there to do so before Traveler had it done
ReplyDelete