Slut Tattoo
People never cease to amaze me. Just the moment I think I have seen/read all the bizarre and obscure, I got an email from a guy asking on behalf of his wife about “slut” be tattooed on her in Chinese.
At first I thought it was a joke, but after a few more rounds of email-tag, they were serious about it.
From: "Electraglide"
To: tian
Subject: Slut Tattoo
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:40:13 -0400
Maybe a little off the path, but my wife wants a tattoo that means "slut" is this 妓女 proper translation if not could you provide one. I hope this doesn’t offend, you seem to be an authority and she wants to get it right!! Thanks so much!
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 09:28:25 -0400
From: "Electraglide"
To: "Tian"
Subject: Slut Tattoo
yeah I'm serious, I don't know why she didn't email you, and she just asked me to look into it for her... "prostitute" wouldn't work, oh well! she's just a FLIRTATIOUS girl, she wanted an obscure tat that represented her sexual demeanor.
Soon after his wife emails me directly to verify that she indeed wants this tattoo.
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 12:02:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: sue blue
Subject: Slut Tattoo
To: tian
Hi, Not really sure why you couldn’t speak with my husband, but here I am... Do you have the symbol I want or does it exist? I want to put it just below my panty line :)
First of all, I think it is very odd someone, especially a female, would voluntarily get a tattoo to label herself "slut".
Secondly, if you want this tattoo for yourself, why would you ask your husband to ask me? Adding an additional "middleman" to this would just make things more complicated. What if he hands you the characters upside down or mirrored? Other people would think I did it on purpose.
Last but not the least, don't you think getting a tattoo of "slut" is kind of cliché? I mean I really should not judge you and your husband from our emails, but do you really want to waste the money and time and advertise something that is so obvious?
All moral lectures aside, here are some choices:
破鞋 =
賤貨 =
臭屄 =
婊子 =
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 12:34:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: sue blue
Subject: Slut Tattoo
To: Tian
I don't think it's odd at all, well maybe, but the fact is there are more women that are and are not truthful with themselves or their mate. My husband and I are unique and have a stronger bond and desire for each other than any other couple I have seen. Thanks for not giving me a lecture, we all must accept the paths that we take. I had mentioned this to my husband and he was trying to research it for me, how sweet! If you don't mind sending the symbols to his email, mine did not show up properly. Thanks again for your time, Sue
I really hope these two are sterile that they don't have any kids. Just imaging the horror the kids have to go through growing up at school, friends and bullies would taunt them with "your mother is a slut, her tattoo said so..."
posted by tian at
1:37 PM
20 Comments:
Didn't Angelina and Billy Bob feel they had a love that transcended all others? That one worked out pretty well, huh?
I particularly like options 2 or 3 for this individual. :)
Not to lecture you, I understand English is not your first language, but I think you mean,"never cease to amaze".
seize (seez) 1. To grasp suddenly and forcibly
cease (sees) To put an end to; discontinue
I love this blog, and I don't want you to look bad!!
Oops, thanks Phillip. I will change it right away. This is just another reason why "Hooked on Phonics" would rot your brain. Plus they sell their consumers' data to outside marketing firms.
Maybe the husband should get "green hat" tattooed in Chinese on his forehead.
Also, does tattooing it in Chinese characters makes it more "exotic" or what? People are so weird.
on a side note.
if they did have kids and other kids were bullying them with the "your mom is a slut her tat says so" remarks. i'd have to ask what she is showing the kids
Probably her "discounted punanie".
"there are more women that are and are not truthful with themselves or their mate."
WTF???
Anyway, if Slutty Sue wants to go Japanese, apart from the old standbys like 尻軽女 or 淫売, manga has spawned hilarious terms like 肉便器.
"肉便器"... LMFAO.
"淫"--that's the word I was trying to remember. IMO, she should just go with 淫婦, I think it works better than 婊子, which Unicode.org defines as "prostitute; whore," although I see 婊子 more commonly used as "bitch."
There is a difference between "slut" and "whore":
Slut is a slang term used to indicate a person who has frequent sexual relationships with different people, especially short-term affairs.
Whore is someone selling sexual favors in exchange of goods.
This makes a slut actually lower.
Yes, and precisely why I think 淫婦 is more appropriate than 婊子--think "奸夫淫婦."
Some women are reclaiming the word 'slut' to mean that they are proud of their sexuality, in whatever form it takes..
If you're proud enough of your sluttiness to engrave it on your skin, can't you at least do it in your own language? Bunch of pseudo-rebellion if you ask me.
http://www.earlygirl.com/slut.shtml
I don't think it's bizarre for a woman to tattoo the word "slut" on herself nowadays; it was certainly clear to me that the woman in question is using the fairly common "reclaimed" version of the word (as seen in the book title "The Ethical Slut", for example). Tian's commentary on the matter struck me as a bit prudish and old-fashioned. What did seem bizarre to me was that the woman seemed to believe that the nuances of the word "slut" would somehow translate over into Chinese! I sincerely doubt she would get the phrase "disgusting tramp" tattooed on herself in English, and it looks like she didn't consider the possibility that "disgusting tramp" and "slut" might have the same translation (or at least the same connotation) in another language.
Why just stop at "slut", how about "cunt"? I am sure everyone, including herself and her husband, would think she is really librated then.
Their sexuality is their own business. But thinking that putting this in Chinese characters makes it different in a good way is naive at best.
Perhaps the husband could get his own tattoo in related location. And if his word or phrase gets translated into Mandarin and written in Chinese characters, everyone could pretend that this not weird or a cliche but instead a profound statement. Thus, a version of "I'm with stupid" might fit the bill.
I am curious about if Ms. "Slut" indeed got the tattoo done or not.
Love how they called them "symbols", too.
I find this idea of "reclaimed" to be rather humorous. Consider the evolution here. First, it was a word. Then it was a bad word. Now it is a "reclaimed" word, meaning acceptable. But only to a select group. Words like "slut" and "nigger" (just to name two) only have as much power and emphasis as we give them. Let it go people!
being a slut is a bad thing? Not in my books. :)
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