Does your tattoo have "meaning"?

This is a very open ended question, and could probably be answered in a lot of ways.

The two types of tattoos I have heard people getting are:

A) Spur of the moment tatts. You pick a random one off the wall that looks nice, lay down the money, and get it done. Most people who I know that go this route get very common tattoos (like stars, hearts, etc.).

B) Meaningful tattoos and/or "well thought out" tatts. You either make the design yourself (or the basic idea of one), and/or you pick something that symbolizes a very important part of yourself/your life. I know people who have tattoos just because they like them, or tatts that hold a lot of meaning for them.

I'm sure there are other "types" of tattoos; how did you pick yours? I don't have any yet, but I believe I'll be getting a nautical star on the top of my right wrist. This symbolizes my sexuality (I'm a lesbian) in a discrete enough way where no one has to know what it means if I don't want them to. Lesbians in the 40's/50's used to get small nautical stars on their wrists and cover them with watches and bracelets during the day. At night they'd use it to communicate their sexuality to other lesbians without having to talk about it, and it was used to get into underground lesbian clubs and bars. But, this of course is because homosexuality was rejected even more in America 50 or 60 years ago.

I've been thinking of tattoos to represent my sexuality without being in your face or cheesy about it. This way it's my decision as to whether or not I'd like to tell you what it means to me, rather than something like a huge rainbow or a female sign or something.

How about you?

 

i dont exactly have a "meaning" to my tattoo... doesn't really "mean" shit to me. lol

kinda just represents my middle name...
aandd its a nice tattoo too. lol.

 

I've been putting some thought into some tattoos for a while now. I'd hate to get something cliché and of the norm with no meaning behind it. I want to be able to say that my tattoos represent something.
I'm still trying to come up with a design for my first tattoo but I have had a few ideas involving objects of the cosmos; as I'm a big nerd for astro-physics as well as believing that perhaps the stars and galaxies could all form a great big larger part of a fractal message that we are in turn able to interpret to give meaning to our daily lives.
Haven't quite settled on anything yet.

 

I'm getting my tattoo in a few months, it's on my upper rib and it says "may angels lead you in" because my half sister and best friend sami used to sing the song hear you me, by jimmy eat world, and taught me how to play guitar to it. so together we would sing and play it to my gramma while she was dying of cancer. so to me it symbolizes the power of music in uniting people, the importance of family, the importance of remembering those before us and a tribute to my gramma, who was a mother to me, and sami, who is my world.

 

maybe make this a pic thread also..

i love seeing peoples tats...

 

I'm thinking about getting my first tatt in a couple weeks, and i was going to have a passage from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" transcribed in traditional chinese calligraphy on my forearm. Translated in would roughly say:

"There are but 5 musical notes
But their combinations form
more melodies than can ever be heard

There are but 5 primary colors
But their combinations form
more hues than can ever be seen

There are but 5 tastes
But their combinations form
more flavors than can ever be tasted"


It doesn't have too much meaning to me, other than I find it to be beautiful and deep. In chinese its written much more succinctly, so it won't look like three paragraphs (I hope)

For the second one I'll get, i'm not sure what it will be, but I want it to cover my opposing upper arm. that I will have to think harder about, because I want the image to be meaningful and not arbitrary.

In conclusion: I support meaningful tattoos. But meaning is a fluid term.

 

I have very large tattoos. The closest I come to it having a meaning is that I've always envisioned myself with tons of tattoos. The subject matter has little import other than I find it attractive.

Thats interesting history about the nautical star. I wondered why so many of my lesbian friends had them, but never really thought that it had any correlation.

 

...first one was really thought out and I wanted it for years...it has LOTS of meaning and is really special to me...the second one I did totally spur of the moment, and it was rather random, but it still has loads of meaning to me because I was at a very special point of my life and it represents that and where I was at the point which is a great thing to be reminded of everytime I see it...plus, the actual picture I find to be pretty symbolic after having it for a while and giving it lots of thought....

 

I think there's 3 "types" of tattoos. There's the spur of the moment ones that are usually small and from the flash at the shop. There's the really meaningful ones, like one you get to remember your grandmother or such. Then there's tattoos that aren't spur of the moment tattoos but dont have a specific meaning.

Example, my chest piece. I'm very lucky to have an artist that was able to connect and read my ideas in my head. My chest piece (besides the very center) has really no "special" meaning. I just like flowers =). It has taken me since December '06 to get this far (and, its not even done lol), so as you can see, its not a spur of the moment decision.
I'll post my chest piece again even though its been on other threads.


That's my 2sense.

 

Here is my first tat ever. Does a tat make a guy look macho?


This butterfly was my design to commemorate Brenda and Rob marriage in 1983. Brenda was into butterflies and I got the tat put on my arm in 2001 after Brenda died and her daughter and two sisters were going to get butterfly tats in her honor. So you can say this has great significance for me.

Here is my second tat, which was going to be my first since I was considering it since 1970 but never got around to doing it. Got it within a month of my first one - I think getting tats is addictive. It is significant as I am a Scorpio and it is placed appropriately for Scorpio.

BTW, it too is my own design.



My most recent tat, I did not design. Standard Peace Symbol that became an icon of my generation in the '60s. It is significant for a representation of part of my life.

Peace Symbol Tat

 

well, mine's not done yet, but I already know how it's gonna look like... i want it on my back (up..) and there have written "You'll Never Make a Saint of Me" and a picture of oldschool cat... the text is just what describes me plus it's Rolling Stones lyrics, the band that has completely changed my view on world and the cat: I love them! Plus they are a typical example of "you'll never make a saint of me" coz they look like they're the cutest ever but still do everything on their own - as me. And why oldschool? Coz I love 50's.

 

I love that song, and I think that is a fantastic idea for a tattoo! I'm a big fan of lyric tattoos. I want one that says "Split open and melt" from the Phish song. I love those words together.

 

i have two tattoos, with full intentions of getting more.

i have one on my back that is a saying by gandhi: "there is enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed."

i read that in a book, and it hit me so hard. it makes so much sense and basically sums up everything i believe in and am against, particularly with American greed.



i also have one on my wrist. it's in hebrew, it says "Yahweh" (or "Jehovah," depending on your own arguments), which is the Hebrew name for God. i was raised Christian, but going to college and reading books, i came to the conclusion that the American church is incredibly corrupt (although they do mean well, they're just far off target from where Jesus actually called us to be). however i still believe in Jesus and God as the absolute power(s).

also, i've been through a lot of bad crap, and there's quite a few things that i probably shouldn't have done. (i don't regret anything, it's all made me smarter and who i am today. nevertheless, it was bad for me to do it. haha.) but no matter how far i seem (or even try) to get from God, he's always been right there anyways.

 

mine have meaning, my first tat was a mix though. It did have meaning but I mostly got it because I saw it lol I don't regret it though. My most meaningful one is 04~05~04, which is the date my friend died.

 

I've got one on my back. It's a mythical winged woman who...doesn't exactly have much close on...and under her feet t says "carpe diem".

 

My mom refuses to let me get a tattoo until I'm 18 but when I can I'm getting a dancing bear on my hand, to symbolize my favorite band.

 

yeah my tatt does.... i origionally wanted a grateful dead tattoo because i've loved them since i was young and still do. i looked through endless steel your faces, jerry bears, turtles, suns, buses, ect., until one day i just stumbled apon it. it is a steel your face with tribal aroound it. i stewed over it for a little more than a year and when i still wanted it, i decideed that it was the one for me. ( and no regets thus far )

 

I've only got one but I dont know which category I fall into. See with me, I was a lot younger and I got a henna tattoo then got that same henna for real. When I was 16/17 I didn't really like what I'd gotten but I think as I've gotten older it's taken on meaning by itself. I'm lucky that I picked something beautiful and unique rather than something that was a bit ordinary. I always say no matter what you get it's a piece of the puzzle that makes up you. However you feel about it afterwards, you still cared enough about whatever to get it at that time and that itself is a memory.


now I want another one....damn.

 

I've got 2 tattoos and I'm not getting anymore. One on my back shoulder is a unicorn holding a blue rose, just because I love unicorns and what they represent. On my ankle I have a red rose with little wings in honor of my dad who passed on from cancer 6 years ago. His favorite song was "Little Wing".

 

I think all tattoos hold personal significance in the form as nostalgia like hippy*shake was saying. It could be just a small black dot, but it will still bring back memories from that particular time period.

I believe that there should be a lot of thought put into other factors aside from subject such as, location and color. Odds are you'll want to get more tattoos later on, and it's nice when the pieces fit.

That said, here's what I've managed so far. Haven't quite come up with any worthwhile additions in almost two years now... but some ideas are getting close.