Not a fan myself, but my grandfather was a submariner in WWI ( yes, the first war 100 years ago) and he had a traditional few sailor tattoos on his forearms. He didn't get tats just because he was hanging round in gyms with the boys, pumping iron and taking stereos.
Neither did these guys:

covered up dick tattoo at the end.

I guess that was back when only sailors and bad asses had tatoos, not nowadays when every arse bandit has one

^^ Saw a quote somewhere, something like: I used to worry about people with tattoos wanting to beat me up. Now I worry they're going to make me a crap coffee.

Tradionally sailors were encouraged to get tattoos as it made the body identification easier.
As far as I understand the brought that practice back from overseas.
There also was the belief that having a religious motive on the back would lesson any whipping that might occur they would then be whipped softer .
Once it was brought back &tattoo parlors were set up it was only the rich who could afford it &it became a symbol of wealth so people would get tattoos to appear rich .
&no I don't have tattoos .

A lot of the old navel tattoo used to tell a story as well; Old sailors would tattoo a clothesline across their shoulders and add a piece of clothing for every 1000 nautical miles sailed. Similar, a picture of the swallow bird at the base of the thumbs indicated you were golden gloves etc. It can be pretty interesting delving into the meaning behind some of them.

A friends father was on old Navy man. He had a huge tattoo of a 3 masted sailing ship on his chest along with lots of other different ones as well. When he sat down his gut would rise and make it look like the old boat had run aground and was 1/3 the way to sinking. It looked hilarious to us young kids. In a funny twist, I met my wife when I was 29 years old and it turned out her old man had worked with my mates father in Customs for the past 15 years. Small world.
I have no tattoos and no desire to get one but a friend has got heaps. His reasoning is he got teased for having red hair and freckles for years so he is doing his best to cover himself in black and grey. I tell him he looks like a bikers moll...

Like most things, those why try to look different all end up looking the same.

Anyone with a full beard they grew recently, or a full sleeve, just looks like a tryhard IMO

One of the worst things is to see women 50 years plus with tattoos . totally off.

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rburtyy said...
One of the worst things is to see women 50 years plus with tattoos . totally off.

You forgot with a nose piercing and leathery skin and a mid drif top with a DD boob job... oh n the tramp stamp on the back and butterfly in 1 of 3 usual places!

Back in the early USSR people would tattoo the images of Lenin or Stalin onto the chest believing that the commie firing squads wouldn't dare to shoot their leaders.

I think that was the time when the firing of a pistol bullet into the back of the head execution was born.

people with lasers are gonna make alaawwta money some time in the near future, if not starting to already

Indeed a floating dead sailor would be face down, and so when encountering a reef, the face would be erased and so back tatts would allow identification. And so Japanese tatts were born. Yakuza, being mostly from fishing villages, took up the fashion.

laser tattoo removal I read was up 500% in the paper this year & I thought what a great business that would be until I saw a young guy from harvard has invented a tattoo removing cream simply apply and the ink will dissolve enough to be absorbed by the body should be on the market in a couple of years .

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actiomax said..
laser tattoo removal I read was up 500% in the paper this year & I thought what a great business that would be until I saw a young guy from harvard has invented a tattoo removing cream simply apply and the ink will dissolve enough to be absorbed by the body should be on the market in a couple of years .

I wonder how toxic it would be to the body if it is powerful enough to remove a tattoo???

Clarence

It doesn't remove the ink which is trapped between skin cells that is my understanding thats why tattoos stay even though your skin replaces itself constantly it just breaks it down smaller so it can then be absorbed by the body and removed like other body wastes .
It isn't toxic or it won't get the approval thats why it has to wait a couple of years before hitting the market as it has to go through the food & drug testing but its on its way.
What struck me as bizarre is that people want it so they can get rid of crappy tattoos & then get new tattoos .
I would have thought they would have learned the lesson the first time .
But i suppose then you can upgrade to the latest fashion .

Maybe a good a good market for tattoo artists could be custom tee shirts . You get the design you desire in a tattoo format, it's original, way more expensive than an off the rack tee and you can flick, or change it when ya get tired of it .

I might get my post code tattoo'd on me cause Im from da hood

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KEARNSY said..
I might get my post code tattoo'd on me cause Im from da hood

6530?

still remember my old post code even tho I moved away35 years ago 6168

It was a great idea to leave that behind, huh?

i think enough have painted the picture of the bogan, wannabe tuff guy, tramp stamp. and poor choice tattoo.
but the history of tattoo goes way back and still today it has deep meanings to people be it tribal
to hardship loved ones or life events.

i know a 50 yld female who just got her first tattoo on her forearm of a blossom branch.
it has three pink flowers a few buds and a black branch.
i asked her about the new tattoo.
she told me the three flowers represented her mother sister and girlfriend
who all died of breast cancer.

funny I've never heard of somebody pigeonholing others for not having tattoos.

SORRY thats right theres no such thing as a
poor style Wannabe tuff guy tramp singlet poser bogan or gym wanker arse bandit
without a tattoo.

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KEARNSY said...
I might get my post code tattoo'd on me cause Im from da hood

90210