Join the Fun!

40+ year old bald white guy with Chinese characters that translated as “I’m a cute little princess” on the length of his forearm.

Had a good laugh the rest of that day.

Lmaooozedong Report

Final score:

177points

POST

Wietse Pot 4 years ago

I'm a 40+ bald White guy and I would totally own that tattoo 😂

145points

My buddy has "illiterate foreigner" in traditional Chinese characters. It's dope

paostmo Report

Final score:

165points

POST

Dream Wolf 4 years ago

I mean, it's not wrong

99points

I saw this guy with Japanese characters that translated to “Beep Beep Lettuce”

noobcabinet1 Report

Final score:

156points

POST

Christine Blackburne-Kowal 4 years ago

OMG, this is my favorite!

57points

I was TDY in Japan for 90 days, and I didn't know very much Japanese at all, but the wife of a guy I worked with was fluent, and at a small command function she pointed out this complete asshat of a guy at the detachment I was with whose back tat read "child changing station". He told everyone it was something like "strength, loyalty, determination".

gamrgrl Report

Final score:

148points

POST

Agent K 4 years ago

LOL!!!

47points

My wife is Chinese and the best one she has personally seen was "fat dumb American" on a guys leg.

TollinginPolitics Report

Final score:

136points

POST

European other 4 years ago

Probably accurate

64points

A_Redheads_Ramblings Report

I knew a girl at university who had some Chinese characters down her arm.

Came in one hot summer day and I finally saw the whole thing.

It said; Emergency exit. Do not block.

Final score:

131points

POST

Analyn Lahr 4 years ago

At least it wasn't on her a*s. Though that would have been funnier.

9points

Wanted a tattoo in Chinese that said "I am a vegetarian," got a tattoo that said "I am made of vegetables."

middleagethreat Report

Final score:

128points

POST

IzzieM 4 years ago

Well, you are what you eat.

118points

I probably shouldn’t be saying this as the person who had this done to them is my best friend but...sh!t...here we go again... My best friend who we’ll call Sarah got a tattoo when she was 16 (where I live, you’re supposed to be 18) her dad passed away about 3 years ago and she wanted to get a tattoo on her wrist to remember him...instead of getting his name which would’ve been easier...she decided she wanted to get “dad” in Japanese...it’s been 2 years since then and I still haven’t told her that it says “turtle” I know that she’ll hate herself if she finds out and to be 100% honest...I kinda like it...I was actually thinking of getting it on my wrist too...my dad passed away when I was only 11 so she’d think I got a tattoo saying dad as well but I’d actually just be getting a pretty hilarious tattoo that I kinda love... I just want to add...if I suddenly go missing...blame it on my best friend

Lil-Dick-Energy Report

Final score:

125points

POST

Dream Wolf 4 years ago

Well turtles can be good luck, in Chinese culture they can represent a long prosperous life. So it could be a blessing in disguise? A cute blessing from her dad.

97points

#10

Buddy of mine got a tattoo with his friends. He wanted it to say something like "honor" or "loyalty" or some dumb s**t, but it actually says "free eggroll with combo purchase"

JDawn747 Report

Final score:

124points

POST

Dream Wolf 4 years ago

Oh I'd get that. I love food

36points

#11

I once saw this middle aged dude wearing "金魚佬" on his shoulder (the rough literary translation is "Goldfish Man"), which in cantonese means a sleazy older man who creeps on younger girls/children. Basically a pedo. Wonder under what circumstances he got that inked...

Olokojamkong Report

Final score:

114points

POST

Markus Holstein 4 years ago

Why do they associate goldfish with sex predators?

4points

euterpe signs 4 years ago (edited)

11 months late, but here’s your answer... In 60s Hong Kong, child predators would lure kids away by promising to take them to ‘watch the goldfish’— of course, once they were away from the crowds, they would commit sex acts on the children.

1point

James Bond 4 years ago

ゆきちゃん今日この頃はありがとうまた明日からですか？

0points

SarcasticGamer 4 years ago

they gifted that to him in prison probably

0points

James Bond 4 years ago

-1point

Ellen Turner 4 years ago

Oof

-1point

#12

I have 'Monkey' on my wrist because that's my Chinese zodiac. I know it's accurate because a Chinese guy asked me if I knew what it meant, and I'm sure he thought I would say 'faith' or 'love' or something, so when I said 'monkey' he looked so relieved. His friend was like 'you have GOT to stop doing that!'

Cdnteacher92 Report

Final score:

109points

POST

Lili 4 years ago

You sure you got it right? Cuz in Chinese the word they use for the animals in general are not the word they use for Zodiac signs.

37points

#13

my friend got "translator server error" tattooed on his arm. needless to say he wasn't very happy after i told him

pepperminthippos Report

Final score:

109points

POST

Human #1,232,867 4 years ago

in China, "404 translation error" is a common name for shops who copy and paste Google translate result

73points

#14

My boyfriend got tattooed before we met and he meant to get warrior(士) tattooed on him, but the lines are wrong so it really means dirt (土). The bottom line is supposed to be shorter than the top line. His nickname in my family is now doro-chan which is basically a cute way of saying dirt boy.

Lady_Lina Report

Final score:

107points

POST

Dynein 4 years ago

Shouldn't that be easy to fix, though? By just lengthening the upper line...?

56points

#15

I can read Chinese and I met a guy who wanted to get a tattoo that said "Hope" so i guess they looked it up in the dictionary and tattooed the first 2 characters after "hope" which were "名子“

which says "noun"

myfinanceaccount1 Report

Final score:

97points

POST

European other 4 years ago

Fail !

24points

#16

This guy i saw had "circumcised Squirrel" on his arm in chinese

Squidward_Dab_ Report

Final score:

94points

POST

Jacob/Becca Gizmo the Squirrel 4 years ago

Oh no!!

25points

Dutch Swimmer Goes Viral For Super Revealing Trunks During 2024 Olympics: “Is This Legal?”

See Also on Bored Panda

Thrill-Seeking Diver Jumps Down Extreme Waterslide, Ignoring The Strict Ban For Women

#17

Lemon water pork dumplings along the spine

TheSlimPython Report

Final score:

89points

POST

Francesca 4 years ago

that's . . . interesting

4points

#18

He thought it said “Love my grandson”. It translated to something like “I love fat boys”. I think it was a google translate failure of epic proportions

MisterComrade Report

Final score:

86points

POST

earringnut 4 years ago

I love my grande son.

10points

shark-fights-toast Report

#19

Man flexed his tattoo to me in a supermarket claiming it said 'wisdom'. It meant 'meat'.

Final score:

84points

POST

Val Izhakevich 4 years ago

Some easily mistake one for another (equate them too?)

1point

Bangbangsmashsmash Report

#20

I didn’t see it, but I went with a friend to get a piercing, and I heard a guy say, I don’t like the way that looks, can you change this line and make the ends do this. The tattoo artist said, “Yea, but that changes the word, you might be going from brave to gay woman for all I know. You can’t change kanji symbols and still have it mean the same thing.”

Final score:

81points

POST

Dream Wolf 4 years ago

I know. The amount of times I've lost marks for this during a test. One wrong stroke...and nah. points deducted

44points

Woman Put A Water Fountain With A Camera In Her Yard, Here Are 24 Photos Of Regular Visitors (New Pics)

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“Ma’am I Live Here”: Woman Refuses To Back Out Of Driveway, Learns A Lesson The Hard Way

#21

I dont speak Chinese but back in college I knew a guy who was one of those douchey guys who likes to brag about how cultured they are and stuff when really they're just an a**hole. He came back from China with some characters tattooed on him. My friend next to me (who had real bad social anxiety so would never speak in public to non-friends normally) burst out laughing. Douche-guy got kinda annoyed and said "It says Strength, Wisdom, Passion" or some other weird bs like that. My friend then reached into his bag, pulled out his phone, opened up one of those AR translators, pointed it at the guy's tattoo, and through the magic of AR, revealed it actually said "chicken with noodles". My friend then said that one of his mates in China told him that a lot of Asian tattooists will often deliberately f**k up tattoos and stuff because they get really annoyed at those douchey people coming over asking for random words to be tattooed onto them.

aragonaut Report

Final score:

81points

POST

Dream Wolf 4 years ago

I kind of don't blame them. I mean it's strange to go in and ask for something that you won't understand (you're just opening yourself up for messing around) at least have someone who fluent in the language write the proper thing out on a sheet of paper?

59points

50 Of The Most Incredible Shots That Were Submitted To The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

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French Diver’s “Jewels” In Tight Swimming Trunks Become Talk Of The Town At Olympics

#22

so this one wrestler/boxer/fighter whatever nicknamed himself the wind of pain and decided to get a Chinese tattoo based on that, so instead of using something bad ass like 痛苦之风（wind of pain)but he ended up with 痛风 which means metabolic arthritis. Yeah good luck with that

RZ1285608 Report

Final score:

79points

POST

Nagawa (Cofa) Kishiki 4 years ago

He is gonna get that once he get old anyway.

28points

#23

I have my Chinese zodiac in Chinese letters on my arm. I worked with a guy who was from China and spoke almost no English. When he saw it his eyes lit up, pointed at my arm and said "hahaha cock!". I'm the year of the rooster...

mattyypat Report

Final score:

77points

POST

Monday 4 years ago

Technically this one is...accurate?

53points

Woman Moves Out Of Parents' Home After They Asked Her To Give Her Space To Brother, They Freak Out

#24

Not my story but a friend of mine.

She had a classmate in college with a kanji tattoo, confused she asked her what it meant.

“High princess”

Turns out it actually said “pig princess”

whereegosdare84 Report

Final score:

76points

POST

See Also on Bored Panda

Mom Leaves $250k Inheritance To Son, Throws A Fit When Daughter Stops Looking After Her

#25

A friend of mine once told me he saw a guy with something like ‘I don’t speak this language’ tattooed on his arm.

Vaysum Report

Final score:

70points

POST

Ruby Abbott 4 years ago

Sounds like tattoo artist revenge

25points

#26

I once had a roommate placed with me in the apartment our company ran for us here in Japan. He was loud, obnoxious, and I generally didn't get on well with him. But, you try to get along, so we'd go to the izakaya up the street from time to time with other friends to drink and have a good time. The owners were this wonderful old Japanese couple who loved having all these weird gaijin come and entertain the locals.

Anyway, somehow we get talking about tattoos and the roommate is showing his off. He then says that he got the kanji for "friendship" (友) and "peace" (和) tattooed on his back and lifts his shirt to show everyone. There's a bit of silence, broken by someone asking, "Who's Tomokazu?"

What Roommate didn't know, of course, was that those two kanji in that order was a man's name.

He reacted well, though, taking a beat and then announcing, "I'M TOMOKAZU!" which became a running joke while he was there.

MShades Report

Final score:

69points

POST

Lenka Smetanová 4 years ago

still better thn a tatoo with a name of yor partner after three weeks of dating... He get quite cool nickname...

26points

Woman Refuses To Chip In For Babysitting Because She Doesn’t Even Have Kids, Asks If She’s A Jerk

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“This Breaks My Heart”: People Stunned—And Angry—After Woman Buys Lost Luggage From Airport

#27

A guy I saw in the streets had the hiragana "Unko" tatooed on his shoulder.

"Unko" meaning a turd in japanese...

Gonlinares Report

Final score:

69points

POST

Pittsburgh rare 4 years ago

That might not be unintentional....

3points

#28

"Little potato". He thought it said "respect".

schmosef Report

Final score:

67points

POST

Dream Wolf 4 years ago

That ones actually cute. If I weren't so freaked out about needles I'd get it

31points

#29

My friend got a tattoo that said "veni vidi vici" in chinese, well so he thought. The tattoo acutally said "three small dishes"

xopokxo Report

Final score:

62points

POST

Zenozenobee 4 years ago

Getting a tattoo of a latine qphrase written in chinese... but why?

8points

#30

On a womans shoulder as a tribute to her fallen brother, in Japanese but translate too "brother sex always"

battlingstaliion Report

Final score:

60points

POST

ness 4 years ago

Wow this one is extremely bad

51points

Note: this post originally had 89 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

James is a Bored Panda reporter who graduated with a BA in Peace And Conflict Studies and an MA in African Affairs. Before Bored Panda, he was an English teacher and also travelled a lot, doing odd jobs from beer-slinging to brickie's labourer and freelance journalism along the way. James loves covering stories about social and environmental issues and prefers to highlight the positive things that unite us, rather than petty internet squabbles about fictional characters. James is the grumpy, contradictory one who thinks that Bored Panda, due to its large audience, has a social responsibility to inspire and inform its readers with interesting issues and entertaining, well-researched stories. Let's do our bit to make our little corner of the internet a smarter, more truthful and less angry place!

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Denis is a photo editor at Bored Panda. After getting his bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design, he tried to succeed in digital design, advertising, and branding. Also, Denis really enjoys sports and loves everything related to board sports and water.

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What do you think ?

POST

Hans 4 years ago

Frankly...how can you get something that is permanent and not check out what it is? I am simply unable to comprehend this, in the literate meaning of comprehend.

32points

Daria B 4 years ago

That's the problem. Most of them DO check, but they think a quick Google Translate will be enough.

20points

Herb Eaversmells 4 years ago

Can we all at least agree its a pretty s****y things to do; to deliberately tatoo someone with the wrong words as a joke?

21points

Marina 4 years ago

I think it's horrible. I can't believe how many photos this thread has, it's something tattoo artists often do apparently and I can't understand why... Wth

1point

Elizabeth 4 years ago

I truly do not understand the appeal to getting a language you do not know or speak tattooed on your body

8points

Christine Blackburne-Kowal 4 years ago

I had a roommate in college who was of partial Chinese decent. Her sister got a tattoo that she thought said "Strong Independent Woman". When she showed it to her Chinese grandmother, she laughed and told her it said "House Wife"

6points

Andres Tejeda 4 years ago

My cousin who is deeply homophobic, got a Chinese tattoo on his arm. We are Mexican and he was showing it off saying that it means honor, family, and faith or something to that degree. Well I brought my Chinese friend over who is from Xiamen, to translate his tattoo. I told about his views of gays and he with out skipping a beat told my cousin that his tattoo meant: I love young men. My cousin denied it and was livid but we convinced him that that's what it meant. To this day he keeps it covered.

5points

The Cappy 4 years ago

The comments here are very interesting. Most of these seem to be examples of Chinese or Japanese tattoo artists deliberately inking something other than they agreed, and something they knew would one day upset the client. It's hard to imagine any motive other than malice to these "mistakes." To the extent people are recognizing this, they're largely blaming the victims. I'm not someone who thinks blaming the victim is inappropriate. Often victims did something unwise leading up to their injury. But... if Americans routinely f'd with Asians by deliberately putting the wrong thing on a tattoo, we'd be livid. Such double standards we have.

5points

Renee Gauthier 4 years ago

Maybe they were rude. And the tattooists figured they wouldn't be back back the time they discovered it. There are much worse things in life. Buyer beware.

1point

Dave P 4 years ago

I mean I dont understand why you would get a tattoo without checking out what it really means first (I mean get a temporary tat done in the henna ink style to see if it looks good first, and get it checked out to make sure what it means), at the same time a lot of these sound like a*****e tattoo artists harming innocent (in case dangerously so) because they dont like foreigners getting tats in their language, which to me is disgusting and shows a lack of professionalism and human decency on the side of the tattoo artist

3points

Bill 4 years ago

The Marine Corps has been pretty hard on visible tatoos for ages. One guy in the schooling I went to got a Chinese character on the back of his head. He got kicked out. The joke was the symbol meant "Great Mistake"

3points

Miklós Nagy 4 years ago

Tattooing the name of your favorite dishes before you'r visiting an asian country should be a lifehack!

2points

Jenica Thomas 4 years ago

Moral of the story... If you don't speak the language fluently yourself, do not tattoo it on your body!

1point

Marty Sunderland 4 years ago

Exactly!

0points

Leo Domitrix 4 years ago

In my mom's native language "little frog" is an endearment. Google Translate turns it into "tadpole" in English. "Kitten" is another one to beware of in several languages. Basically, this is why my only tat is a discreet little heart with my spouse's name in it!

1point

Demi Zwaan 4 years ago

I don't understand why you'd get a tattoo in a language you don't speak, from a culture or country you have no connection to, just because the squiggly lines look nice. It's a definite recipe for failure.

1point

Ian Smith 4 years ago

I'd like to know what is happening here. Is it people trusting Google too much? Malicious or incompetent tattoo artists? I'm not sure if I should laugh or be outraged without context.

1point

Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 4 years ago

For those of you who love language and poorly researched tattoos, “Hanzi Smatter” is a wonderful blog where a native speaker provides the hilarious translations of some really horrible kanji tattoos. People send pictures of their tattoos in thinking they mean wonderful things like strength only to learn that they really say things like “chicken noodle soup” or “monkey queen.” http://hanzismatter.blogspot.com/?m=1

1point

just a hamilfan (hufflepuff) 3 years ago

I would purposefully have mine say "湯圓" or "soup dumplings" because I love Chinese soup dumplings

0points

Willajune B 4 years ago

Someday, I'm gonna get a tattoo in Chinese that translates to "hermit potato" so that people think I made a mistake and then I can explain this to them. :D

0points

David Christian 4 years ago

Could some of these be intentional on the patrons part? I can see someone getting "I don't speak this language" as a joke on themselves for instance. Other than that, some are probably artists who try to spell things out without knowing the language themselves.

0points

David Christian 4 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

0points

Olivia K P 4 years ago

I wish more of the submissions showed what it was supposed to be and what it actually was, like 14 Did

0points

SirPatTheCat 4 years ago

I want to get a tattoo that says "Chicken nuggets" in katakana so that if someone is like what does that mean I can say "something very special to me" with no further explanation, but if someone actually comes up to me who knows what it says I can say "something very special to me" and they're like oh this poor dumb kid And then I'm like "...chicken nuggets"

0points

DrJohnFZoidberg 4 years ago

Cousin tattooed “knowledge is freedom” on his arm. I took some Japanese classes in college and asked to see it one day and noticed right away that it was spelled wrong. Didn’t have the heart to tell him, years later he told me he showed it to a bunch of Japanese students and they rolled on the floor laughing. I confessed that I knew, he was cool with it.

0points

Trash Panda 4 years ago

I used to work with a guy who spent many years working in Japan and was well versed in the language. We were out one night and ran into a guy who had a tattoo of Japanese characters and told us it said, "Deep, calm waters". My friend told me that, to the best of his understanding, it actually said something along the lines of "flat mule" or donkey. He didn't share that with the tattoo owner.

0points

Alexander Brior 4 years ago

I’m thinking of getting a tattoo, which one should I get? Circumcised squirrel, or beep beep lettuce?

0points

Silent Skeleton 4 years ago

im surprised nobody mentioned ariana grande's tattoo lol

0points

Ronald Mckim 4 years ago

So what is "Maclunkey" in Kanji? Asking for a friend ;)

0points

Jackie Wacky 4 years ago

It’s the same with Arabic. I remember someone at work years ago proudly wearing a necklace which she thought was her name in Arabic... it actually said (I’m being polite here) ‘lady’s private part’.

0points

D. Pitbull 4 years ago

What gets me... is the apparently "lack of belief" stories... the ones where the person with the tattoo outright *refuses* to believe the individual who is telling them what it says... and of all things "You obviously don't know how to read Chinese/Kanji/Japanese words" - oh... really... and you do? What the heck.

0points

RoseTheMad 4 years ago

A friend of a friend has "鱼娘" meaning "Fish Girl" she actually wanted "Mermaid" but she couldn't explain what she meant in Chinese, so she was saying "fish girl, half fish half girl" to try explain it. The tattoo she should have is "美人鱼" iirc. But she sees the humor in the mistake, at least. However, iirc "娘" is Daughter in Japanese. :)

0points

Bettye McKee 4 years ago

In my opinion, they get what they deserve. You should never get a permanent marking when you don't have a clue what it means. Why not get Brave passionate warrior in English?

-1point

Ryo Bakura 4 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Loki 4 years ago

I got (un)lost and a picture of the album cover that song is on (the album is called American candy and it's from the Maine) and it's actually good? maybe you spend too much time looking/reading at/about bad tattoos

2points

Full Name 4 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

POST

Hans 4 years ago

Frankly...how can you get something that is permanent and not check out what it is? I am simply unable to comprehend this, in the literate meaning of comprehend.

32points

Daria B 4 years ago

That's the problem. Most of them DO check, but they think a quick Google Translate will be enough.

20points

Herb Eaversmells 4 years ago

Can we all at least agree its a pretty s****y things to do; to deliberately tatoo someone with the wrong words as a joke?

21points

Marina 4 years ago

I think it's horrible. I can't believe how many photos this thread has, it's something tattoo artists often do apparently and I can't understand why... Wth

1point

Elizabeth 4 years ago

I truly do not understand the appeal to getting a language you do not know or speak tattooed on your body

8points

Christine Blackburne-Kowal 4 years ago

6points

Andres Tejeda 4 years ago

5points

The Cappy 4 years ago

5points

Renee Gauthier 4 years ago

Maybe they were rude. And the tattooists figured they wouldn't be back back the time they discovered it. There are much worse things in life. Buyer beware.

1point

Dave P 4 years ago

3points

Bill 4 years ago

3points

Miklós Nagy 4 years ago

Tattooing the name of your favorite dishes before you'r visiting an asian country should be a lifehack!

2points

Jenica Thomas 4 years ago

Moral of the story... If you don't speak the language fluently yourself, do not tattoo it on your body!

1point

Marty Sunderland 4 years ago

Exactly!

0points

Leo Domitrix 4 years ago

1point

Demi Zwaan 4 years ago

1point

Ian Smith 4 years ago

I'd like to know what is happening here. Is it people trusting Google too much? Malicious or incompetent tattoo artists? I'm not sure if I should laugh or be outraged without context.

1point

Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 4 years ago

1point

just a hamilfan (hufflepuff) 3 years ago

I would purposefully have mine say "湯圓" or "soup dumplings" because I love Chinese soup dumplings

0points

Willajune B 4 years ago

Someday, I'm gonna get a tattoo in Chinese that translates to "hermit potato" so that people think I made a mistake and then I can explain this to them. :D

0points

David Christian 4 years ago

0points

David Christian 4 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

0points

Olivia K P 4 years ago

I wish more of the submissions showed what it was supposed to be and what it actually was, like 14 Did

0points

SirPatTheCat 4 years ago

0points

DrJohnFZoidberg 4 years ago

0points

Trash Panda 4 years ago

0points

Alexander Brior 4 years ago

I’m thinking of getting a tattoo, which one should I get? Circumcised squirrel, or beep beep lettuce?

0points

Silent Skeleton 4 years ago

im surprised nobody mentioned ariana grande's tattoo lol

0points

Ronald Mckim 4 years ago

So what is "Maclunkey" in Kanji? Asking for a friend ;)

0points

Jackie Wacky 4 years ago

0points

D. Pitbull 4 years ago

0points

RoseTheMad 4 years ago

0points

Bettye McKee 4 years ago

In my opinion, they get what they deserve. You should never get a permanent marking when you don't have a clue what it means. Why not get Brave passionate warrior in English?

-1point

Ryo Bakura 4 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Loki 4 years ago

2points