When attempts at fusion go wrong.. (1)

You know how some Westerners go East and get themselves a funky tattoo in Chinese or Japanese characters - or maybe they just go to another Westerner who’s offering the service out of their tattoo parlour just off the Brighton seafront. How do they know that the symbol their getting says “love and happiness” and not “beef and broccoli”? They don’t.

Hanzi Smatter is a blog dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters in Western culture. There are pics of tattoos with the corrected character alongside and stories from the tattoo-ing trenches.

Visit Hanzi Smatter at http://www.hanzismatter.com/

So if you are thinking of getting a funky Eastern tattoo, take along a Chinese-literate friend! (In this case, not me - I no speakee or readee Chinese.)

Photo: from the Hanzi Smatter site.