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We all know someone who decided to be “edgy” and they went ahead and did it…
They got a tattoo with Asian symbols!
But did they get what they really wanted permanently inked into their skin?
Well, based on this Reddit story, the answer to that question is NO.
Take a look at what this person had to say and see if you think they did anything wrong by telling someone that the Asian symbol they got tattooed on them wasn’t exactly accurate.
“There was a wedding in the family recently, and my parents, brother and his girlfriend formed a clique and stuck together.
After dinner, my cousin (33M), who is brother of the groom, happily starts talking to us.
We used to play together all the time as kids. He’s one of the chill ones and we’re all getting along really well, catching up.
He asked about his tattoo.
I notice a new tattoo on his wrist that looks like it’s in Japanese, a language I’ve been learning for a couple years for work.
I ask him about it, so he pulls up his sleeve and says it’s his daughter’s name. He tells me he doesn’t understand the language, but he loves his tattoo artist, they’re pals and “I trust her with my life”.
I squint and look at the tattoo. His daughter is called Olivia, which in Japanese you could write as “オリヴィア” (Orivia) or “オリビア” (Oribia.) However his tattoo said “Orutsua,” written “オルツア.”
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
I stared at it in disbelief.
I checked it over and over in my head, and I was thinking oh my god, he just said he trusts that tattoo artist with his life.
I thought of not telling him, but considered that if it were me I’d want to know… and I also was kinda ticked off this tattoo artist didn’t do the research before permanently marking someone’s body. And she was supposed to be his friend too!?
On top of that, while most of our family is white, some who live local to him ARE Japanese. So I was also thinking, oh no, he has Japanese people in his life.
They decided to spill the beans.
I made up my mind and I sheepishly told him it might not be quite right. I said the first and last characters were okay, but the middle ones would need adjusting.
Although he was a little concerned, he laughed and was upbeat about it; and I told him oh gosh, I’m so sorry about this.
I made sure not to start talking badly about the artist friend even though I wanted to.
I got out my phone and showed him what his really said with a keyboard that changes roman characters to Japanese ones, and then the version that truly said “Olivia,” to hopefully give him confidence on what was right.
He tried to be gentle about it.
I told him it wasn’t that bad, like man, most people don’t speak Japanese.
I cannot stress enough how gently I tried to do this.
I didn’t want to linger on it because obviously it’s an embarrassing topic and I’m sure he didn’t either, so the conversation moved along.
He said he’d maybe get it looked at.
Not everyone was happy about this.
We laughed about it, but man, he was probably laughing out of embarrassment. The poor dude.
After the wedding my brother told me off and said I should’ve let it be. My mom said she disagreed and he needed to know about his own tattoo.
That sparked a big debate in the car.
I can’t believe my cousin is now one of those white guys with a gibberish aesthetic tattoo in an Asian language. He just wanted his daughter’s name! I feel like that tattoo artist scammed him.
AITA for telling my cousin his tattoo wasn’t done right?”
Sounds like it’s a bad idea to get a tattoo in a language you don’t speak.
Check out what Reddit users said about this.
This person shared their thoughts.
Another reader weighed in.
This Reddit user spoke up.
Another individual said they’re NTA.
And this person agreed.
They were only trying to help him out…
If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.
AloJapan.com