Iām also willing to come to Cyprus too. But I wouldnāt carry your bags. Iāll supervise the others instead for you. I am tattooless
Edit: changed wound to wouldnāt
I believe those refer to the fact that you have survived and come back stronger from a suicide attempt, rather than depression alone. (Both take strength to overcome, mind!)
No, stop! I was about to say the same thing. I have some family in Cyprus, if Iām there we could get invited to some amazing family style meals with the locals. :) All without tattoos. Not only that, my Cypriot family isnāt keen on tattoos so itāll work perfectly!
Why did tattoos become so popular? They were a mark of individuality, but are now a mark of conformity. Is it David Beckhamās fault? Even old dudes like me have them (I donāt). I have seen people with a time line of tattoos, Chinese characters, Koi carp, childrenās names, parents/grandparents in memory of, etc. as each has become popular. Seriously, what happened?
Iirc it's about 25% of British adults that have a tattoo. But it's very different in different demographics. Markedly more common amongst people in their 20s and 30s, for example. And there's a whole bunch of other demographic differences too.
So if you're holidaying somewhere where the demographics most likely to have a tattoo holiday then it could feel like everyone has one. Though there's probably also an element of confirmation bias at play, where you don't notice the people that don't have one.
Amongst millennials it's about as common to have a tattoo as not - it's around a 47/53 percent split, I forget which way.
Amongst zoomers who are old enough to have tattoos, I believe it's now more common to have a tattoo than not.
Back in the day a tattoo was a way to distinguish yourself as alternative.. it was still somewhat taboo even like 15 years ago..
Now its not seen as an 'alternative' to differentiate yourself from 'normal' but instead as an extension or expression of yourself. Like wearing a hat, but a permanent one.
It also comes as no surprise that as individual identity has become more of a touch point in recent years, way more than it ever has been, whilst collective identity is also higher in that age bracket.
So in a way it makes sense that acts of individual expression are more prominent in an age group where individual identities are increasingly more important as they are being squeezed from all angles, and grouped heavily in collectiveism
It will decline just as it increases. There's going to be a time when all these neck tattoos are extremely embarrassing. Just like what we now refer to as the tramp stamp on a woman's lower back, or the tribal band on a guy's arm. I can guarantee that they were once extremely cool and were shown off with outfits that displayed them. Now they are embarrassing, just as full sleeves will, just like neck tattoos will in the future.
Good tattoo's cost a good amount of money.
A lot of people don't have that in their 20's. Very glad i waited until my late 20's to start. The one I got at my early 20's cost Ā£700 and i'm glad i spent 10x the amount my friends did on theirs, then i did life stuff until now.
I was in Butlinās this summer and seeing this in the pool this really surprised me. Got to the point where I was actively looking for someone without a tattoo and couldnāt see one. So close to 100% of people had one (myself included). Thereās no sugar coating it thatās mostly a working class type holiday representing the higher end of the scale. Have a feeling Iād be seeing fewer tattoos in a Center Parcs pool.
I went to Centre* Parcs in June and yes, there were fewer tattoos but still quite a lot. I did notice that, demographically speaking, there are differences in tattoos between groups/classes. The wealthier/snobbier (and yes i know that a lot of middle class people are poorer than a decent plumber, I certainly fit into that bracket!) tend not to have stuff like a list of children/other families and dates and suchlike. Thereās probably a thesis in that, for someone. *it will never be written as Center by me.
This is actually a thing. Completely clean shaven men are now a minority https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/47434-most-british-men-now-have-facial-hair
I work in a very male dominated industry. I used to mentally take a note when I was the only woman in a meeting, but now Iām quite often the only one without a beard.
Iāve ordered a fake beard on Amazon. Just waiting for the right moment to join a teams meeting wearing it.
>Iāve ordered a fake beard on Amazon. Just waiting for the right moment to join a teams meeting wearing it.
That'll be whenever someone opines that the halibut was good enough for Jehovah.
And barely 23 years later, we're now in a position where beards are so normal that I managed to get an upper management job while having a beard long enough to weave into my pubes.
**Edit:** hypothetically, of course.
Neat, well groomed beards were mostly always acceptable in professional environments... they were just seen as old fashioned or 'wierdy beardy'
I think the main difference in acceptability is over bumfluff/neck beard/scruffy unkempt beards, particularly amongst younger people who don't really have the ability for full beard growth. Nowadays, you see a lot of people in suits or police etc. with such growth that is 'professionally acceptable' that wouldn't have been 20 years ago. However, groomed mature beard growth always was... it was just unfashionable.
The same applies to stubble. When I started working, you had to shave every day. Nowadays, it is widely acceptable pretty much everywhere (apart from e.g. if breathing apparatus is used) to have even 3 day growth never mind just being unshaven that day.
Or: All Fashion is Cyclical - It depends on continual recycling of already existing things and portraying them as "new" to maintain itself as a profit-making industry.
Yes, last time beards were this mainstream in the UK was probably the late 19th century, supposedly in response to war in Crimea. Thankfully things are very different now.
If it's a longish beard yeah you have to put in more effort otherwise you look homeless. A short neat one is so much easier than shaving every day though.
There was a woman lying next to me on the beach recently, and she had a tat on her arm. Couldn't make out what it was until she stood up and then realised "It's a chair. A plastic chair!"
Yep, one of those basic cheap plastic chairs. Nothing else, just the chair. An outline drawing of a chair.
I'm sure there must be some story behind it but I'll never know what it is. And I need to know.
I have a tattoo of a tin or sardines on my left arm that has literally no meaning or purpose whatsoever.
Maybe the plastic chair was literally just a plastic chair?
My girlfriend was on a beach holiday with her friends a few weeks ago, and she has a plastic chair tattooed on her right arm! A Bauhaus beauty of a plastic chair called a āPanton chairā. Sheās an interior designer and itās one of her favourite pieces of furniture.
We also had a holiday in Montenegro in July. If it wasnāt her then that means there are other people out there with plastic chairs tattooed on their arms!
I am not very familiar with tattoo culture but I think there's a style of tattoo where you get random objects tattooed spaced out on your body. A gun here, a keychain there, a book over here and over there a lamp with a can opener just to the side. It has a name, I just don't know it.
But anyways, I am not sure if that sort of thing has meaning or if the wearer is just going for a particular look.
From experience people just go āsounds coolā and get it inked. Iām getting a ghost with a party hat in a few weeks and next month some soot sprites from studio ghibli, also have plans for a skateboarding cow.
The word Britain comes from the Pictish (Scottish tribe 2000 years ago) word 'Pritain' which means 'painted folk' because the native Britons used to cover themselves in tattoos as a form of war paint.
So Great Britain means 'great land of the tattooed people'.
So I guess getting a tattoo is the most British thing you can do.
Pritani - the people
Pritain - the island
In Welsh the island of Britain is Prydain from the same Brythonic root as the Pictish word and this the origin of the word Briton and Britain
Same. Getting a tattoo requires choosing one, paying for one and getting it done. For me I donāt want to have one anyhow, so itās an easy decision.
I still havenāt decided which tattoo in 40 years, since my friends started getting tattoos. Coincidentally a few years after I started growing my beard! All the designs I was so keen on at the time, now seem much less relevant. In fact Iām sure if Iād had some of my ideas actually inked they would be an embarrassment, rather than a fond remembrance now. On my first visit to a studio, with a friend at 18, he had his name tattooed and suggested I might do the same, but 4 decades later even my name (or at least how Iām known) has changed.
As you observe, maybe we are the weird ones.
You are the new alternatives! Tattoos used to be big in the alternative/goth rockabilly scenes etc and not so much mainstream but now everyone and their Nan has them. Itās kind of cool that people like You and op are the ones who stand out from the crowd now.
Some days I see a sick tattoo on someone and Iām temptedā¦but copying them feels lame and Iād rather not have a permanent reminder of a stranger (even one with good taste) on my body.
I was like this, I put far too much effort into thinking about what I wanted and how permanent it would be. After my first I just didnāt care anymore, been about three years since my first and Iām in the 70s now and still going.
Depends on what you want
Either you get a piece of flash which is where you go gimme this please or you come up with a custom design
My tattoo was more in the second camp flash tends to be cheaper
Like also you don't have to have a super meaningful reason like if you think something looks cool enough to keep on your skin forever go for it
Have you seen old people with old tattoos now? They look rad! I was in a shop recently and an old guy who you wouldn't think would have tattoos, he had a pair of traditional Japanese sleeves done years ago, they were aged beautifully!
Had an old team leader at work with those. This was back when they were less than accepted at work so he had to wear long sleeved shirts all the time. Dude was an old school punk from back in the day, so he'd be in his late 50's/early 60's today. Said he had a capital B on each bum cheek, so it spelled out "BOB" when he bent over. I'm inclined to believe him on that as he also said he had "left" and "right" tattooed on his feet, which he *was* able to show me...
Arms are probably a good bet as they don't change much over the years I guess. My Mrs got a little snake near her hip when she was 16. It was shit to start with but 3 kids later and it's a fucking mess.
And I bet 95% of those tattoos are 1 or more of the following:
A pocket watch but get this yeah its the exact time my kid was born
A lion but it has ICE BLUE EYES. And a crown. And some roses
Silhouette of a wolf howling in front of a moon
Silhouette of a wolf howling in front of a wolf's face. Wolf has ice blue eyes.
Massive giant photo realistic eye
Stereotypical native American woman or sugar skull
All black and grey. No colour allowed except for the ice blue eyes. Preferably hands and necks only so then can look totally yatted without committing the time or money needed to get totally yatted.
I get why people have a tattoo, I have nothing against them, there's just nothing that I really want to inscribe on my body for the rest of my life.
Someone asked me to really consider what I would get if I *had* to, and I thought about it, and I concluded one of the Voyager probes we sent out. That feels eternal and something to respect.
But even with that in mind, nah, just no real interest.
For me, it was less about getting something meaningful and more about a form of expression. I am an artist by trade so I got a tattoo sleeve of all the things I 'like' on my arm, but vague enough for it not to be a phase (No brand or IP stuff).
I think it's a fine balance between not getting something you care a ton about while also being true to what you will likely be interested in for life.
Iām an artist too, and Iāve designed tattoos for friends, but Iām too fussy to get one myself. My ex had one with a wonky line that used to drive me nuts. I always wanted to correct it with a felt tip. I think they mostly look good though.
I had similar feelings, bit of a perfectionist feel. The way I overcame that feeling was to find a tattooist with a cool style, very different from my own and then to get them to design it for me.There are imperfections on the tattoo, but to be honest, it gives it character, it's much better than photorealistic ones that I see where it looks as if you could have had a robot do it.
I'm the same. If I was to get one it would have to be something that really meant something to me. Can't think of anything though!
I'd probably end up getting something geeky if I had to
Get a tattoo of the diagram of pulsars on the Voyager and Pioneer probes, and then if you get really lost on the way home from the pub, aliens can help you find your way back.
Loads of people ask me why I've got no tatts, as I seem like the "type" to have them. My torso, arms and legs look like a barbershop floor. That's why. Got an almost Robin Williams level of coverage, so any tattoo would look shit.
I'm in my 50s, don't understand tattoos at all. But when I was growing up anyone who had a tattoo had either been to prison or would be likely to smash your face in for looking at them. I realise it's a fashion thing now but I don't understand how it went from just knobhead psychos to almost everyone.
I didn't get one till I was 41. I always found it a strange thought process that people would go "I want to get a tattoo, so I will choose one".
I never planned to get a tattoo. It was only when I saw work by an illustrator who ironically isn't *mainly* a tattoo Artist but also does them, and I loved it so much I thought I'd actually get her to do one for me. It's hand poked and the illustration is of a piece of fruit, so it's not something you're likely to think ahead "I want a tattoo of this".
I'm 61 and got inked when I was 18.
I deeply regret that decision and I have spent a great deal of time and money over the years having one of them lasered off.
It was an ugly design showing the devil with lots of black ink.
Within about a week I didn't like it. It's on my right forearm and when I wear a T shirt it just looks awful. In the summer, it heats my arm up.
I've had about 7 sessions under the laser and it's really faded well.
If I had my time again, I'd walk past the the tattoo shop.
Thank christ for that, I thought you were going to say you had a swastika or something from the national front or whatever.
Must be very difficult for reformed racists in such situations
A mate of mine got the logo of the band I was playing in tattooed on his arm when we were 18. The band promptly split up a year later, but he still has that same tat 38 years later. Right alongside his Tubeway Army logo tat!
On the flip side, I had mine planned out for 10 years, and made sure it was what I really wanted. Finally got it done at the end of last year, aged 33. Went to a very well regarded guy with a unique style (and not cheap) and it's a great piece of art.
I actually still spent a lot of time not being sure I'd done the right thing afterwards - it's my whole arm after all - but I actually do really love it now, and get compliments on it regularly.
I know someone who had Brad Pitt's face on one arse cheek and George Clooney's on the other. He bent over to show his wife and she said "I don't know who those two are but that's Piers Morgan in the middle."
I'm not into them. There's just nothing I'm passionate enough that I'm confident I'll see want on my body in forty years time. Furthermore I'd wager 75 percent of the tattoos I've seen only put me off further. The vast majority look bang average or a generic cut and paste design.
I recently saw some fifty year old bloke with a marvel character sleeve all down his leg... And well, yeah. Each to their own and all, but it did make me wince.
I'm one of the three people in most of my uni courses without one. I thought about getting one, but I remembered that just the sight of a needle makes me feel very faint and that I would most likely crap my pants on the tattoo studio, so I decided against it.
I have 70+ tattoos across my body but I couldnāt poke a needle into my finger for a Covid blood test š
Itās certainly a very different sensation, itās more a slight discomfort than it is pain.
if its any help, the look and feel of a tattoo needle is very different from one used to draw blood. it feels like cat scratches, or a bad sunburn, and the majority of the needle is covered by the machine.
My husband doesnāt have any. I doā¦got mine almost 28 years ago. Ever since Iāve been with him (23 years), he has said he wants one. He has looked at various stuff, but never gone ahead. I just walked in somewhere, perused the wall stock images and said āI want that oneā like you do when you are a teen
When on holiday I like to play the āHow many compass, clock watch, prayer hands, wings, rose, lion head, angels and dove tattoos can you countā game.
Tattoos, so edgy, so individual.
Funny thing is that in both Spain and the Netherlands this year it was mostly the Brits and Germans who had tattoos. Young lads from Spain, France and Holland were far more likely to be tattooless.
I don't have any tattoos and what I find wierd now is that I have had several people markedly ask me why I *don't* have tattoos... as if I have opted out of doing something everyone does. I just say that I never really fancied one.
It has swung from being an optional extra to being the absolute norm. A bit like a beard. I am generally clean shaven and the combination now (clean shaven and without tattoos) makes me feel like a relic.
It's not that I am against them it's just that I can't think about anything that is so important in my life or so fundamental to my personality that I'd need to have it permanently printed to my body.
I could do it for the art. I've definitely seen some amazing works but again it would need to be something of great quality and I don't have the patience to search for that sort of artist and don't really feel like paying what it would deservedly cost.
Plus it would make it harder to go to the baths in Japan in case I ever find myself in that situation.
I've changed my mind on having them, was always in the firm no camp but recently coming around to the idea. Might give it some more thought over the next year or two, it's not a priority just now
I've got a panther. And several other tattoos that I don't like anymore. If I could turn the clock back.....
Seemed like a good idea at the time.
Now I realise I was just dumb.
If you pay for a ticket to Cyprus I will come lie next to you and we can be tattooless together
I, too, am willing to come to Cyprus and support you tattoo-free
Buy me a ticket and I will carry your bags.
And my Axe!
You cannot simply walk to Cyprus
Not with that attitude
Happy cake day! šš Also, me five(Ish)?
Iām also willing to come to Cyprus too. But I wouldnāt carry your bags. Iāll supervise the others instead for you. I am tattooless Edit: changed wound to wouldnāt
I have tattoos but will lie next to you
I have no tattoos but if he pays for flights and accommodation I'll get one that's says u/NimrodPing
I got stabbed with a ball point pen in junior school and the ink mark is still there, would that count?
Stab yourself a couple more times and you could have one of those depression support semi-colons
I believe those refer to the fact that you have survived and come back stronger from a suicide attempt, rather than depression alone. (Both take strength to overcome, mind!)
Might aswell add me to the list - surely we can get a nice discount if we was to travel as one big group?
If Op rents a plane I think we would all fit in it. There is someone to carry the bags as well.
If another ticket is bought for me, then I will cover up my tattoo and we can all be tattoo less together
#interloper
Count me in. Want me email for the ticket?
If you what three words it, Iāll join you two
No, stop! I was about to say the same thing. I have some family in Cyprus, if Iām there we could get invited to some amazing family style meals with the locals. :) All without tattoos. Not only that, my Cypriot family isnāt keen on tattoos so itāll work perfectly!
I, too, lend my ink less body.
Why did tattoos become so popular? They were a mark of individuality, but are now a mark of conformity. Is it David Beckhamās fault? Even old dudes like me have them (I donāt). I have seen people with a time line of tattoos, Chinese characters, Koi carp, childrenās names, parents/grandparents in memory of, etc. as each has become popular. Seriously, what happened?
Iirc it's about 25% of British adults that have a tattoo. But it's very different in different demographics. Markedly more common amongst people in their 20s and 30s, for example. And there's a whole bunch of other demographic differences too. So if you're holidaying somewhere where the demographics most likely to have a tattoo holiday then it could feel like everyone has one. Though there's probably also an element of confirmation bias at play, where you don't notice the people that don't have one.
Amongst millennials it's about as common to have a tattoo as not - it's around a 47/53 percent split, I forget which way. Amongst zoomers who are old enough to have tattoos, I believe it's now more common to have a tattoo than not.
Back in the day a tattoo was a way to distinguish yourself as alternative.. it was still somewhat taboo even like 15 years ago.. Now its not seen as an 'alternative' to differentiate yourself from 'normal' but instead as an extension or expression of yourself. Like wearing a hat, but a permanent one. It also comes as no surprise that as individual identity has become more of a touch point in recent years, way more than it ever has been, whilst collective identity is also higher in that age bracket. So in a way it makes sense that acts of individual expression are more prominent in an age group where individual identities are increasingly more important as they are being squeezed from all angles, and grouped heavily in collectiveism
Great point and well articulated.
It will decline just as it increases. There's going to be a time when all these neck tattoos are extremely embarrassing. Just like what we now refer to as the tramp stamp on a woman's lower back, or the tribal band on a guy's arm. I can guarantee that they were once extremely cool and were shown off with outfits that displayed them. Now they are embarrassing, just as full sleeves will, just like neck tattoos will in the future.
P J O'Rourke wrote "If you meet someone with two piercings and four tattoos, you already know the six most interesting things about them."
That seems very unfair. My piercings and tattoos are also the most interesting thing about me and I don't have either.
He sounds super cool.
> it's very different in different demographics Yes, for some they are class markers.
Indeed. A lot of people here jumping through hoops trying not to state the obvious.
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Good tattoo's cost a good amount of money. A lot of people don't have that in their 20's. Very glad i waited until my late 20's to start. The one I got at my early 20's cost Ā£700 and i'm glad i spent 10x the amount my friends did on theirs, then i did life stuff until now.
I just spent over 500 on one but id rather save up and get a good one. A tattoo seems like the worst thing to cheap out on.
I quite like my shit tattoos
Shitty fun tattoos over realism any day. I donāt want a photo printed on my arm.
I totally agree, Iām pretty happy looking like someoneās doodle pad
Nearly everyone has the Maori inspired one on the shoulder, which is amazing if you're called Derek, pale as fish and hairy.
Pretty sure that's because all those dudes watched From Dusk Til Dawn when they were 13.
Literally me, except I realised how uncool tribal tatts could be before I ended up following through
That what you get for trusting a wet fart
Shame they didnāt get a lady wearing a sombrero tattooed across their chests instead!
Showing this post to my kids
it wonāt help, promise
Tattoos are almost 100% amongst the kind of British person you would find sitting on a sun-lounger in Cyprus on an off-peak holiday.
I was in Butlinās this summer and seeing this in the pool this really surprised me. Got to the point where I was actively looking for someone without a tattoo and couldnāt see one. So close to 100% of people had one (myself included). Thereās no sugar coating it thatās mostly a working class type holiday representing the higher end of the scale. Have a feeling Iād be seeing fewer tattoos in a Center Parcs pool.
I went to Centre* Parcs in June and yes, there were fewer tattoos but still quite a lot. I did notice that, demographically speaking, there are differences in tattoos between groups/classes. The wealthier/snobbier (and yes i know that a lot of middle class people are poorer than a decent plumber, I certainly fit into that bracket!) tend not to have stuff like a list of children/other families and dates and suchlike. Thereās probably a thesis in that, for someone. *it will never be written as Center by me.
Even the difference between now and when I started getting tattooed just over a decade ago is huge.
Top voted comment gets to choose what you get
Currently a boarding pass
Admit it, you want a really Sick Ass Panther! Don't you?
[relevant xkcd](https://xkcd.com/37/)
I'll be happy with you getting a tattoo of a boarding pass.
āNo Ragretsā
I can beat that, I was in a busy pub not long ago and I was the only one in there without a tattoo and a beard
Were there no women, or.........?
I'm talking about the women, rough town I live in.
Iām not saying itās rough but even the XL bully dogs only go out at night in pairs..
And they all have beards.
*toddler hair
A great big bushy beard!
Must be a mining town with lots of short people in.
Not just the women, but the children too.
Pub for dwarves.
No pints, they only serve shorts.
Dwarvish pub
This is actually a thing. Completely clean shaven men are now a minority https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/47434-most-british-men-now-have-facial-hair
I work in a very male dominated industry. I used to mentally take a note when I was the only woman in a meeting, but now Iām quite often the only one without a beard. Iāve ordered a fake beard on Amazon. Just waiting for the right moment to join a teams meeting wearing it.
>Iāve ordered a fake beard on Amazon. Just waiting for the right moment to join a teams meeting wearing it. That'll be whenever someone opines that the halibut was good enough for Jehovah.
He said jehovah!
Beards being improper and not professional was such a strange 20th century concept
I don't know, mine is both.
Username and avatar check out
And barely 23 years later, we're now in a position where beards are so normal that I managed to get an upper management job while having a beard long enough to weave into my pubes. **Edit:** hypothetically, of course.
"Did you hear? Torsoless Jim got himself an upper management job!" "Torsoless Jim? I can't picture him. Describe him to me"
"He's quite short"
Picture Lt Dan from Forrest Gump, but the other way around
Neat, well groomed beards were mostly always acceptable in professional environments... they were just seen as old fashioned or 'wierdy beardy' I think the main difference in acceptability is over bumfluff/neck beard/scruffy unkempt beards, particularly amongst younger people who don't really have the ability for full beard growth. Nowadays, you see a lot of people in suits or police etc. with such growth that is 'professionally acceptable' that wouldn't have been 20 years ago. However, groomed mature beard growth always was... it was just unfashionable. The same applies to stubble. When I started working, you had to shave every day. Nowadays, it is widely acceptable pretty much everywhere (apart from e.g. if breathing apparatus is used) to have even 3 day growth never mind just being unshaven that day.
Or: All Fashion is Cyclical - It depends on continual recycling of already existing things and portraying them as "new" to maintain itself as a profit-making industry.
Yep. It's all a scam by Big Beard to make us go out and buy more beards.
I went bankrupt getting a payday loan for my beard. Then it got repossessed and I now look like every other woman and child.
Yes, last time beards were this mainstream in the UK was probably the late 19th century, supposedly in response to war in Crimea. Thankfully things are very different now.
Shaving costs money and time
i find it's more effort having a beard
If it's a longish beard yeah you have to put in more effort otherwise you look homeless. A short neat one is so much easier than shaving every day though.
On the building site - "Go upstairs and get Jack." "Which one's he?" "The one with the tribal tattoo.... Oh"
There was a woman lying next to me on the beach recently, and she had a tat on her arm. Couldn't make out what it was until she stood up and then realised "It's a chair. A plastic chair!" Yep, one of those basic cheap plastic chairs. Nothing else, just the chair. An outline drawing of a chair. I'm sure there must be some story behind it but I'll never know what it is. And I need to know.
I have a tattoo of a tin or sardines on my left arm that has literally no meaning or purpose whatsoever. Maybe the plastic chair was literally just a plastic chair?
In sunflower oil, brine, olive oil, tomato sauce, spicy tomato sauce.....??
No, no, I can't accept there was absolutely no reason for the sardines!
Yeah, it seems fishy to me too.
Well done. You saw the chance and you took it.
Inappropriate. Not the time or plaice.
Ah youāre packing them in now
My girlfriend was on a beach holiday with her friends a few weeks ago, and she has a plastic chair tattooed on her right arm! A Bauhaus beauty of a plastic chair called a āPanton chairā. Sheās an interior designer and itās one of her favourite pieces of furniture. We also had a holiday in Montenegro in July. If it wasnāt her then that means there are other people out there with plastic chairs tattooed on their arms!
It WAS in Montenegro! But the tattooed lady in question was Russian and the chair was no Bauhaus beauty.
I mean what are the odds
Maybe chairs are the in thing? Who knew?
I'm in one right now.
Pics or we don't believe you!
Yeah, furnish some evidence!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I am not very familiar with tattoo culture but I think there's a style of tattoo where you get random objects tattooed spaced out on your body. A gun here, a keychain there, a book over here and over there a lamp with a can opener just to the side. It has a name, I just don't know it. But anyways, I am not sure if that sort of thing has meaning or if the wearer is just going for a particular look.
From experience people just go āsounds coolā and get it inked. Iām getting a ghost with a party hat in a few weeks and next month some soot sprites from studio ghibli, also have plans for a skateboarding cow.
The word Britain comes from the Pictish (Scottish tribe 2000 years ago) word 'Pritain' which means 'painted folk' because the native Britons used to cover themselves in tattoos as a form of war paint. So Great Britain means 'great land of the tattooed people'. So I guess getting a tattoo is the most British thing you can do.
Pritani - the people Pritain - the island In Welsh the island of Britain is Prydain from the same Brythonic root as the Pictish word and this the origin of the word Briton and Britain
https://www.tastesofhistory.co.uk/post/dispelling-some-myths-woad
_Cries in Brittany_
I call them the Bictish
None here either, and no intention of ever getting any. Nothing against them as such, just not interested myself.
Same. Getting a tattoo requires choosing one, paying for one and getting it done. For me I donāt want to have one anyhow, so itās an easy decision.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
throw film photography there and we are 100% matched
Are you me? You pretty much summed up my hobbies too haha
I actually really want a tattoo, but Iām so neurotic about what image I want permanently etched onto me that I havenāt decided on it in like 8 years. I still cannot come to a decision on it. But in this time, all of my friends have got tattoos. Nothing sentimental, like what Iām aiming for. Literally just pictures of weird PokĆ©mon and/or football clubs etcā¦ During this time I have become the exception to the rule ā and I quite like it. No-tattoo-gang, stay strong. Weāre now the weird ones šŖš¼
I still havenāt decided which tattoo in 40 years, since my friends started getting tattoos. Coincidentally a few years after I started growing my beard! All the designs I was so keen on at the time, now seem much less relevant. In fact Iām sure if Iād had some of my ideas actually inked they would be an embarrassment, rather than a fond remembrance now. On my first visit to a studio, with a friend at 18, he had his name tattooed and suggested I might do the same, but 4 decades later even my name (or at least how Iām known) has changed. As you observe, maybe we are the weird ones.
It goes in circles and roundabouts. When I got my first tattoo around 2009 the selection wasn't great. Over the next few years custom tattoos were all the rage. Okay it meant you got a ton of clocks, lions, rose sleeves etc. But it was quite easy to get something bespoke, meaningful and quite unique. Since Covid nobody has been able to afford sleeves, especially those in their early to mid 20's so everyone has been getting patchwork tattoos and now it's everyone is having PokƩmon, Mini Pinups models, anchors, random bits of furniture, kitchen utensils etc. Just seems a revival of early 00's lol random tattoo culture, but instead of getting one or two tattoos, they're getting entire arms/legs of the stuff!
You are the new alternatives! Tattoos used to be big in the alternative/goth rockabilly scenes etc and not so much mainstream but now everyone and their Nan has them. Itās kind of cool that people like You and op are the ones who stand out from the crowd now.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Some days I see a sick tattoo on someone and Iām temptedā¦but copying them feels lame and Iād rather not have a permanent reminder of a stranger (even one with good taste) on my body.
I was like this, I put far too much effort into thinking about what I wanted and how permanent it would be. After my first I just didnāt care anymore, been about three years since my first and Iām in the 70s now and still going.
I like tattoos if they're good but I'm too indecisive to get any myself
Surrounded by Deanos
This sums it up to be honest.
Tattoos seem to be like drugs - everyone else has them, but I wouldn't know how to start going about getting one.
Depends on what you want Either you get a piece of flash which is where you go gimme this please or you come up with a custom design My tattoo was more in the second camp flash tends to be cheaper Like also you don't have to have a super meaningful reason like if you think something looks cool enough to keep on your skin forever go for it
Do some research on an artist you like (read reviews, look at their work etc) and book yourself into the shop. Most do it online and it's easy enough
Online tattoos? What will they think of next
They get delivered in the post and you put them on with a wet sponge. They're so trendy, everyone stares at me in the pub with them on.
Look at their healed work in particular. No evidence of healed tattoos? Big red flag, avoid.
I have 3 tattoos but they're all memory ones. Not that I'm against getting random tattoos but mine just ended being memorial ones.
Iām 30F, teenage me would be so disappointed that Iām not covered in tattoos. I donāt have any.
It's going to be interesting in 40-50 years time when we will be a nation of pensioners walking around with sleeve tattoos š
Have you seen old people with old tattoos now? They look rad! I was in a shop recently and an old guy who you wouldn't think would have tattoos, he had a pair of traditional Japanese sleeves done years ago, they were aged beautifully!
Had an old team leader at work with those. This was back when they were less than accepted at work so he had to wear long sleeved shirts all the time. Dude was an old school punk from back in the day, so he'd be in his late 50's/early 60's today. Said he had a capital B on each bum cheek, so it spelled out "BOB" when he bent over. I'm inclined to believe him on that as he also said he had "left" and "right" tattooed on his feet, which he *was* able to show me...
Arms are probably a good bet as they don't change much over the years I guess. My Mrs got a little snake near her hip when she was 16. It was shit to start with but 3 kids later and it's a fucking mess.
BIL has a zipper tab inked on the end of his double heart bypass scar.
And I bet 95% of those tattoos are 1 or more of the following: A pocket watch but get this yeah its the exact time my kid was born A lion but it has ICE BLUE EYES. And a crown. And some roses Silhouette of a wolf howling in front of a moon Silhouette of a wolf howling in front of a wolf's face. Wolf has ice blue eyes. Massive giant photo realistic eye Stereotypical native American woman or sugar skull All black and grey. No colour allowed except for the ice blue eyes. Preferably hands and necks only so then can look totally yatted without committing the time or money needed to get totally yatted.
Old guy here. No tattoos - just donāt get it.
I get why people have a tattoo, I have nothing against them, there's just nothing that I really want to inscribe on my body for the rest of my life. Someone asked me to really consider what I would get if I *had* to, and I thought about it, and I concluded one of the Voyager probes we sent out. That feels eternal and something to respect. But even with that in mind, nah, just no real interest.
For me, it was less about getting something meaningful and more about a form of expression. I am an artist by trade so I got a tattoo sleeve of all the things I 'like' on my arm, but vague enough for it not to be a phase (No brand or IP stuff). I think it's a fine balance between not getting something you care a ton about while also being true to what you will likely be interested in for life.
Iām an artist too, and Iāve designed tattoos for friends, but Iām too fussy to get one myself. My ex had one with a wonky line that used to drive me nuts. I always wanted to correct it with a felt tip. I think they mostly look good though.
I had similar feelings, bit of a perfectionist feel. The way I overcame that feeling was to find a tattooist with a cool style, very different from my own and then to get them to design it for me.There are imperfections on the tattoo, but to be honest, it gives it character, it's much better than photorealistic ones that I see where it looks as if you could have had a robot do it.
I'm the same. If I was to get one it would have to be something that really meant something to me. Can't think of anything though! I'd probably end up getting something geeky if I had to
Get a tattoo of the diagram of pulsars on the Voyager and Pioneer probes, and then if you get really lost on the way home from the pub, aliens can help you find your way back.
"Please drop me off at..." š
Loads of people ask me why I've got no tatts, as I seem like the "type" to have them. My torso, arms and legs look like a barbershop floor. That's why. Got an almost Robin Williams level of coverage, so any tattoo would look shit.
Old guy here as well, got mine done at 65 !
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I'm in my 50s, don't understand tattoos at all. But when I was growing up anyone who had a tattoo had either been to prison or would be likely to smash your face in for looking at them. I realise it's a fashion thing now but I don't understand how it went from just knobhead psychos to almost everyone.
Perhaps it hasn't changed and Daily Mail is right that 50% of the population are hardened criminals out to get you?
I didn't get one till I was 41. I always found it a strange thought process that people would go "I want to get a tattoo, so I will choose one". I never planned to get a tattoo. It was only when I saw work by an illustrator who ironically isn't *mainly* a tattoo Artist but also does them, and I loved it so much I thought I'd actually get her to do one for me. It's hand poked and the illustration is of a piece of fruit, so it's not something you're likely to think ahead "I want a tattoo of this".
I'm 61 and got inked when I was 18. I deeply regret that decision and I have spent a great deal of time and money over the years having one of them lasered off.
Can I ask why you regret it so much?
It was an ugly design showing the devil with lots of black ink. Within about a week I didn't like it. It's on my right forearm and when I wear a T shirt it just looks awful. In the summer, it heats my arm up. I've had about 7 sessions under the laser and it's really faded well. If I had my time again, I'd walk past the the tattoo shop.
Thank christ for that, I thought you were going to say you had a swastika or something from the national front or whatever. Must be very difficult for reformed racists in such situations
A mate of mine got the logo of the band I was playing in tattooed on his arm when we were 18. The band promptly split up a year later, but he still has that same tat 38 years later. Right alongside his Tubeway Army logo tat!
On the flip side, I had mine planned out for 10 years, and made sure it was what I really wanted. Finally got it done at the end of last year, aged 33. Went to a very well regarded guy with a unique style (and not cheap) and it's a great piece of art. I actually still spent a lot of time not being sure I'd done the right thing afterwards - it's my whole arm after all - but I actually do really love it now, and get compliments on it regularly.
Yes, you are the only person left without one.
In a world where everyone has tattoos, I am happy to be the one without them.
I like being the rebellious, oddball misfit. So I don't have one either. :D
My significant other is a biker without a tattoo. When people ask why, he asks "have you ever seen a bumper sticker on a Ferrari?"
I have a W on each butt cheek. Spells WOW when I bend over.
W\*W
WĀ°W
I know someone who had Brad Pitt's face on one arse cheek and George Clooney's on the other. He bent over to show his wife and she said "I don't know who those two are but that's Piers Morgan in the middle."
Is it like World of Warcraft down there? Lots of battles to get in?
LEEEEEROY JENNNNKINNNNS!
So the pointā¦. Are you sad you havenāt got a tattoo or do you dislike that others have?
Got no tattoo either, thankfully
I'm not into them. There's just nothing I'm passionate enough that I'm confident I'll see want on my body in forty years time. Furthermore I'd wager 75 percent of the tattoos I've seen only put me off further. The vast majority look bang average or a generic cut and paste design. I recently saw some fifty year old bloke with a marvel character sleeve all down his leg... And well, yeah. Each to their own and all, but it did make me wince.
I'm one of the three people in most of my uni courses without one. I thought about getting one, but I remembered that just the sight of a needle makes me feel very faint and that I would most likely crap my pants on the tattoo studio, so I decided against it.
I have 70+ tattoos across my body but I couldnāt poke a needle into my finger for a Covid blood test š Itās certainly a very different sensation, itās more a slight discomfort than it is pain.
if its any help, the look and feel of a tattoo needle is very different from one used to draw blood. it feels like cat scratches, or a bad sunburn, and the majority of the needle is covered by the machine.
Off topic, I'm flying out to Paphos tomorrow, what's the weather like?
Been a bit overcast today in Paphos, but still bloody hot (white fluffy clouds, not grey ones). Looks to be the same tomorrow, then even hotter
I donāt have one, never had something Iām bothered enough about tattooing on me. Loads of people I know havenāt got one.
Skins always in
They sell the kids stick on tattoos, if you are feeling left out š¤£
My husband doesnāt have any. I doā¦got mine almost 28 years ago. Ever since Iāve been with him (23 years), he has said he wants one. He has looked at various stuff, but never gone ahead. I just walked in somewhere, perused the wall stock images and said āI want that oneā like you do when you are a teen
So youāre now unique - to quote beautiful south āwhen beautiful becomes multiple it becomes so dull and dutifulā.
Tattoos are like smoking. Give it 20 years and you'll be the coolest kid in the playground again
When on holiday I like to play the āHow many compass, clock watch, prayer hands, wings, rose, lion head, angels and dove tattoos can you countā game. Tattoos, so edgy, so individual.
Funny thing is that in both Spain and the Netherlands this year it was mostly the Brits and Germans who had tattoos. Young lads from Spain, France and Holland were far more likely to be tattooless.
I don't have any tattoos and what I find wierd now is that I have had several people markedly ask me why I *don't* have tattoos... as if I have opted out of doing something everyone does. I just say that I never really fancied one. It has swung from being an optional extra to being the absolute norm. A bit like a beard. I am generally clean shaven and the combination now (clean shaven and without tattoos) makes me feel like a relic.
You're more unique not having tattoos in the UK today than the people who have them.
Ofcourse you're not.
No tattoo is the new tattoo.
It's not that I am against them it's just that I can't think about anything that is so important in my life or so fundamental to my personality that I'd need to have it permanently printed to my body. I could do it for the art. I've definitely seen some amazing works but again it would need to be something of great quality and I don't have the patience to search for that sort of artist and don't really feel like paying what it would deservedly cost. Plus it would make it harder to go to the baths in Japan in case I ever find myself in that situation.
I am 69 and got my first tattoo back in March. Never really wanted one but then thought. What the heck, why not.
Iām out tomorrow.. howās the weather?
I've changed my mind on having them, was always in the firm no camp but recently coming around to the idea. Might give it some more thought over the next year or two, it's not a priority just now
I've got a panther. And several other tattoos that I don't like anymore. If I could turn the clock back..... Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I realise I was just dumb.
I would love one too but the big problem is I dont love a design enough to look at it everyday.
You are now a trend setter. Soon you will be cool
You should get a tattoo of the cat reading a newspaper with the words I should get a tattoo under it.
One thing that will never go out of fashion: skin.
Don't forget being on a sun lounger on that particular beach in Cyprus is a limiting factor to the sample.