Engrish in Reverse, and Permanently On Your Body
I’m not sure when the trend of getting tattoos of Asian characters started, but it’s always been lame. (It makes you wonder if people in Asia get English words tattooed on their body and go around telling people that “it says fire.” My guess is no.)
But what’s even funnier is when those tattoos don’t even say what they’re supposed to. For example:
(via Kirainet.com
“気違い” translates from Japanese to something like “I am a lunatic.” Probably not what he was going for.
Our friend Jessica at Ugliest Tattoos is looking for the best example of botched Chinese and Japanese characters. If you’ve got a good example or find one out their on that world wide web, shoot her an email at ugliest.tattoos@gmail.com by Friday. Both Ugliest Tattoos and Engrish Funny will be posting some of the best examples next week.
Now that’s a war!
I really don’t get it! What is funny about it?
It is “reverse Engrish,” which is a poorly translated English to Japanese phrase. I’m Chinese and I’ve seen my share of incorrectly used Kanji. One time this dude showed me a tattoo and said it said “fury.” I was like, “that’s not ‘fury,’ that’s just the number seven.”
“What’s so special about the number special in Chinese?”
“Nothing,” I said
the tattoo was lie
He should have gotten a tattoo of a cake.
then he could have chosen cake or death!!!
I’ll have some cake, please.
At this rate, we’ll run out of cake…
I ordered the vegetarian
veg cake?
Quoting Eddie Izzard…Nice!
Yeah, I knew a guy once who went to an oriental tattooist and asked to have… what was it? I think he wanted ‘Love and Peace’ or something like that. What he got, according to another friend of mine, was ‘Egg Foo Yung’. Don’t know if it was true or if he was just joking, but the friend was Chinese so he should have known one way or the other.
Mind you, looking at what we can see of the guy, he probably would have ‘I am a Lunatic’ tattooed on his arm
yep, and the dude has a somewhat oriental cast to what i can see of his head as well… he may know the language.
What is the number special? Is that a new dish at the restaurant?
The tattoo may not be a mistake. It may be just how the guy feels.
You’re so paranoid
I bet you think this song is about you
ewwww
My favorite screwed up Asian tattoo is Britney Spears’… it’s backwards! X-D
And, perhaps, choosing a photo of a wounded soldier to make your point is not in the best of taste.
Agreed
Care Troll? Is that like a Care Bear?
Only trollier.
That’s a relief!
Trollier than thou.
“I am a lunatic” sounds perfectly fitting for a soldier to me. Let’s get paid to be shot at guys, I need the money. I respect em all, but that line of work is pretty nuts.
Reminds me of a guy who got what he thought was his last name tattooed on his upper arm. His last name was “Baker”, but the tattoo said “Bacon” in Japanese.
Mmmmmm… bacon *drools*
ベーコン (be e kon) is bacon in japanese. there is no kanji for it. sounds unlikely.
You’d be surprised at fashionable Asian shirts — they often say things like “you leave me saddness in I love you”, “love understands love, it needs no talk” or, my favorites, which are on my roommate’s shirts, “remarkable super 60 integratdn, jeaningpoint” and “aniye by authorized fun club: candy”
yeah but look at the english shirts you see asian people buying on the pic here. They’re just as bad.
I think I can safely say these would surprise virtually no one here.
student, the best shirt ive seen says
All chicken-heads die on toast!!
I think translating kichigai as “I am a lunatic” is pushing it a bit. A more reasonable translation would be “madman,” which is fairly reasonable for a soldier.
There are certainly some bad kanji tattoos out there, but this is a poor example.
It’s also an adjective here, so “madman” wouldn’t even be right.
It’d just be “crazy” which is pretty reasonable considering the kinds of things service members get tattooed.
This example should go up on failblog.
that is the point i wanted to make: it says “crazy”. of course “crazy” doesn’t have the same connotations in japanese that it does in english… it’s insulting to call someone kichigai (you can’t say, “oh, you’re so crazy!” and expect a positive response), and no one would ever refer to themselves in a “cool” way as “crazy”. that’s a lot of quotes.
anyway, it’s probably what the guy wanted on his arm… but probably not at the same time because anyone who can read it will carry a different set of associations than he intended. he should have just got “crazy” or “crazy horse” and a picture of neil young.
It’s not an adjective, even though it ends in “i” — it’s a noun, meaning “madman” or “crazy person” or even “insanity” in general. I imagine that was generally what he wanted, but I don’t think the word in Japanese has the connotations that he was probably going for.
Perhaps the guy used dictionary to translate “mad” and got kichigai (“insane”) instead of okotteiru (“furious”).
That would make me okotteiru! But what do I know, I’m kichigai!
I’ve been a military dependent for much of my life, and I’m willing to bet $500 that some variant on the theme of “I am a lunatic” is EXACTLY what he was going for.
Should say, “and based on my experience with the mindset of a very significant portion of military members, I’m willing to bet” etc etc.
I’m guessing he’s a Marine.
he’s wearing an Army uniform
In disguise.
Yea, this probably isn’t the best example out there but that was kind of the point. Now its up to us to do better!
This kanji may mean something more like “I’m medically retarded.”
For those saying “I’m a lunatic” may be what the intent of the soldier is, remember: ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS/IDIOMS MAY LOSE THEIR INTENDED MEANINGS WHEN TRANSLATED DIRECTLY INTO A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.
You can’t take expressions like “not in my backyard” or “mi casa es su casa” and translate that into Japanese/Chinese because Japanese and Chinese people will be not be familiar with those expressions.
Yeah, translating idioms and insults is often ineffective and too inane to even be funny. Once an American friend asked me how to say “sh*thead” in Hindi, and I said you just couldn’t. He tried variations of it, but I had to tell him that references to sh*t are only factual/literal in Hindi. For insulting purposes, you have a wide range of choices from “owl” to mofo, but no excrement figures on that list, LOL!
Surely the point would still get across, you turtle’s egg.
(Look up wángbādàn or 忘/王八蛋 to see what I’m getting at.)
What would a monkey know about the taste of ginger!
Keep it clean, you guys!!
Why are you making my brain bad like this? My post was clean only.
Mmmm, ginger!
It’s not an idiom or “expression”. It’s a single noun. 気違い The *literal* translation would be a compound noun of “spirit” (ki) and “incorrect / mistake / wrong / different” (chigai). (Yes the word for “incorrect” is the same as the word for “not the same”)
It translates idiomatically to “madness” or “mad man”, which is probably exactly what he wanted.
There was a Korean pop star who decided to get English tattooed on his back. It ended up being something like “Actions are more prection (precious) than words”. I think I remembered it correctly.
Certainly more prection than those words.
Also translates as son of the moon:/
See you on the dark son of the moon.
Which sort of translates in English to Lunatic.
Yup. That’s no mistake. Not on this one.
George Carlin said it best: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters, it doesn’t make it “spiritual.” It’s right above the crack of your ass and it reads “Beef with Broccoli.”
Actually, “I’m a lunatic” might be his intent after all. Some people get ‘Crazy’ tattooed on themselves. And people in Japan don’t get English words tattooed on themselves, they wear T-Shirts with bad English on them… which is less permanent than getting Kung Pao Beef in Chinese tattooed on your forearm, but just as public.
lunatic is most definately something someone in a soldiers line of work would get. this is the lamest engrish picture ever. he might have wanted “Crazy mofo” ppl in OD green see horrible things and have to make split second decisions a civilian will hopefully never have to make.
A good site for bad “asian lettering” tattoos is Hanzismatter.com
That tattoo is most likely not a mistake.
It is in extremely poor taste to be pointing out “bad tattoos” on wounded soldiers.
You should be ashamed.
気違い translates to ‘madman’ not ‘i am a lunatic’.
Maybe JohnB can get a tatoo that says “I treat the lunatics.”
Tattoo
I would be just as comfortable with one that says, “I am a lunatic.” (Of course, I’m not sure what the difference betweeen “madman” and “lunatic” is.)
ARRGGGHHH, him writing “i’m a lunatic” is NO DOUBT HIS INTENT, but “lunatic” in Japanese is used only as a LITERAL term and is not an expression!
In English, “lunatic” can either refer to someone who LITERALLY has a mental illness or it can be an EXPRESSION saying that the person is a nonconformist/not-average. In Japanese, it ONLY applies in the former and is not used as an expression
Do you speak two languages? This is one of those things that you can only understand if you are bilingual, because that’s how you know that languages translated word by word leads to nonsense.
HECK, you go to these Engrish sites and wonder why its all nonsense… well, guess what? When Americans get tattoos in Japanese it produces the SAME reactions.
ARRGGGHHH, I don’t know why you’re angry, or are a pirate, or both! I do not claim to be bilingual, and the fact that idioms don’t translate well is one of the things that makes this site tick. I don’t have to know two languages to understand that word for word translation can produce nonsense. All I have to do is have a modicum of intelligence. Besides, what makes you so sure I don’t have a literal mental illness???
ARRGGGHHH, today is pirate day at Engrish. Let us celebrate and high five in joy of our triumph. Except for you, the one with the iron hook hand.
John, just say that psychology is your second language and that you can interpret even the unsaid. Not many of us have that gift.
Word for word translation leads to nonesense? Well slap mah fro!I thought the translations on this site were acurate translations of what the original message contained. I’ve been fooled all along.
Pedantic Calendar Watching fairy must push in here to point out that International Talk Like A Pirate Day is celebrated on 19th September.
I really hope that this is just one example of English speakers making amusing mistakes when trying to speak or write in other languages – lols should work both ways.
ARRGGGHHH, Does anybody here need an eyepatch? I have extras! Maybe a peg-leg? How about a fake parrot?
Psychology is my third language. BS is my second.
I am fluent in BO as well as Engrish.
Sic semper teenagrish.
That would be your body-language.
I am learning to speak engrish; then I will be bi-lingual!
This is funny and all until you realize that is a dead American soldier on a stretcher.
His color looks pretty good. Why do you think he looks dead?
actually, he’s very alive. smoking a cigarette actually. it’s the cover of “Time”
Oh, well, smoking is a slow death. I guess it’s just a matter of time.
Tell that to my 83 year old grandma.;)
I told you, it was slow! Although it laid waste to my brother at the tender age of fifty-five.
Also check out hanzismatter.com for Western misuse of Chinese and Japanese characters.
Sorry, you really failed with this one.
He got the tattoo he wanted, he understands its meaning, and he chose well.
When I saw this in the store I thought it said “kiomoi” (depressed). Now I look at it more closely I see that it does indeed say “kichigai”… though according to my dictionary that can also mean “fan.” Maybe he’s a fanboy?
A depressed, lunatic fanboy? Understandable. Change my gender, put me in uniform, and send me to war, and I would be too.
I translated it to “madness” so umm yeah.
Actually, it would seem perfectly normal for a Marine to get “crazy motherf***er” tattooed on him, right? This guy got exactly what he wanted… OOHRAH
but it’s not normal for Marines to wear Army uniforms. Hooah.
this guy shouldnt truss pass or else he is a lunatic!
気違い is a noun, not a state of being…
probably not a mistake. many idiots take pride in being called lunatics.
Sometimes people make a war…
Having read all the comments I’m suprised no one has thought that the photo could simply be reversed…mirror image and all that? That would really be the more likely explaination, especially considering the innoculation scar on his arm – that particular vaccination is almost always given in the left arm.
It doesn’t make any sense for it to be reversed — the characters are written correctly.
The reason no one (except YOU) thought it was an mirror image, is because the text (English and Japanese) isn’t.
But please tell me…what particular vaccination are you talking about Poirot?
I don’t think we should be making fun of the Klingons. They are new to our world and may be unfamiliar with our Earth customs.
Klingon? By the looks of his ear, I thought he might be a Vulcan.
“he should have just got “crazy” or “crazy horse” and a picture of neil young.”
There’s more truth to that than you might think. See my link.
Shows that there are so many worse things a soldier could do than getting a crazy tattoo.
http://www.hanzismatter.com
> (It makes you wonder if people in Asia get English words tattooed on their body and go around telling people that “it says fire.” My guess is no.)
Well, they definitely put Engrish on t-shirts and wear them because the western letters look cool. That’s not quite at the level of getting yourself tattooed permanently, though.
I think “i am a lunatic” probably is what he was going for.
But not what he got…read previous explanations
It actually says “kichigai”, which means crazy or mad. The breakdown, (if anyone is interested) is that the first character is “ki” meaning feeling. The second reads “chiga” and the third is not a character, but a hiragana symbol, “i” This combination of “chiga” (which also has other readings, as do most Japanese characters) and other hiragana such as “u” makes various other words such as differ, difference, different etc. All three combined make up the adjective crazy. Yes, Japanese is a complicated language. Probably a U.S. serviceman who was stationed in Japan at some point. Anyway, a pretty appropriate label for someone who does what those guys do, I reckon
My apologies to XaiaX, who wrote something very similar to my comment – sorry, didn’t spot it. Essentially the only difference is that it is an adjective, not a noun – most Japanese adjectives end in “i”
i think his tattoo is very nice. I bet it has some meaning to him. I have to and have had them verified by many people. mine say love and honor after two things i value in this world….i got them both while i served in the military aswell. with that said i believe that it was his choice and not yours you may judge, its the right he is fighting for, for you to enjoy your ability to form opinions and speak them with out fear of retaliation.
It was probally meant to say I’m a lunatic or something close
Thats what i was thinkin
If you notice, this Soldier is on a stretcher. His name is Sergeant First Class Chet Millard. He is on the stretcher because his vehicle just hit and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that the media likes to refer to as “road side bombs”. By the time this photo was take, his unit had suffered 26 wounded and 1 KIA (Killed in Action), all from IEDs.
But go ahead, rag on his tattoo. Judge away. It probably does say “I’m a lunatic”.
it could have been intentional….
if i where to actually get a kanji tattoo hell i’d probably get “i am reverse pervert” or “i am anger” for the hell of it
That was exactly what he was going for, crazy, insane are the characters, smartass !