It is summer, and it is hot, hot, hot.
So hot that people wear little nothings - men open their shirts and their huge bellies have the freedom David Hasselhoff was fighting for; and extremely well-nourished women wear mini-shorts, and thousands of them display huge tattoos.
Everywhere you look at their generously exposed bodies.
The University of Leipzig estimated that
19 million people in Germany have Tattoos. (A third of the people under thirty has at least one).
And these tattoos are not the teeny weeny Chinese ideographs (how come that I first wrote "idiograph"?)
(The photo above I found in a glossy magazine) In Berlin you can admire hole landscapes on legs, arms, shoulders, backs and sometimes even on faces.
Tattoos are not without risk.
Everybody (!EVERYBODY!) in Germany who owns a "starter kit" is allowed to tattoo his
So:
- You risk an aesthetic disaster (just look around!!)
- You risk your health: There might be poisonous parts in the colours which are not designed for tattoos, but for car paint (honestly!).
And if you want to get rid of "I love you, Annicka!" for "I love you, Babette!"?
Well: You have to pay: sometimes thousands of Euros if her name was a long one (choose Babs instead next time!)
You can a) let somebody cut it out (iiiiih!); or b) let them use chemical etching lotions (ouch!) or - and that will be the choice of most: c) laser.
I hope that these three painful methods are used by doctors only.
So, don't hum Bob Dylan's song "Don't think twice - it's alright!" when you enter my tattoo study --- it might be the wrong song.
Better hum:
"Needles and Pins!"
I think it is more cool not to have a tattoo.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Rachel - not giving in to fashion pressure!
DeleteI have one on my penis which says, 'the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'. I have to admit that there are no spaces, and it is in 8 point - sometimes.
DeleteI knew, Tom, that there was always some secret you hadn‘t shared with us.
DeleteTattoos appear to be a fashion choice of young men and women, but I do wonder whether they ever consider how they might feel when their bodies are old - the mind boggles at the thought of wrinkled 80 - 90 year old men and women covered in tattoos.
ReplyDeleteHaha, my mind boggles too - when I see here in Berlin grown-up men and women - very far on the shady side of forty - in one hand the bottle of beer ( at nine o‘clock in the morning), often a fierce looking dog at their side - and covered in Tattoos as the tapestry of Bayeux.
DeleteI have always considered tattoos to be a form of mutilation. Truthfully some of the small ones can be attractive for a while but they don's stay that way.
ReplyDeleteI am with you, Emma: when I see advertising „permanent“(= tattooed) make-up, I think: Wait a few years...
ReplyDeleteTattooed make up is already here. I saw a young woman the other day with tattooed eyebrows - it looked rather weird to say the least.
ReplyDeleteI myself have never ever considered having a tattoo.
Eyebrows, Heron, might become a real problem when she gets older :-)
DeleteI always wonder when people cannot stop (evidently), and when they trust persons who have neither ability nor taste in drawing.
I have never liked tattoos Britta ... I think that they are ugly and make people, especially women, look grubby !!! They always look as if they need a good wash ! When you see a bride in her beautiful dress with a tattoo, it just ruins it as it does with any nice outfit. Maybe it's my age ... tattoos were always thought of as naff when I was young. Tattoo rant over ! XXXX
ReplyDeleteDear Jacki, I am absolutely with you (and I like the word "naff") When they are very colourful, tatoos often look dirty - the colours are seldom clear. And then I detest the often really uninspired drawings! :-) XXX
DeleteIf I was a footballer manager I wouldn't want any tattooed players in my team. Is that discrimination? I don't think so. Footballers and other sports people who are highly paid should be better role models for young people.
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting thought, Gwil! they are living billboards (and we, when we buy a bag to carry our goods often too - though I bring my own foldable bag since years...) Yes, they are role-models, and started the trend (before it were the sailors and prisoners and rockers, I think, who were tattooed)
DeleteRegarding the young people tattoo epidemic I think footballer David Beckham has a lot to answer for.
DeleteOne of my granddaughters has become a complete tattoo. So sad.
ReplyDeleteI feel with you, Joanne: we all followed/follow (silly) fashions, and our elders were "not amused", but most fads had no consequences when we had outgrown them. Tattoos are not easily to get rid off...
ReplyDelete