You know you are getting old when:

[Trenchfriend]

I'm thankful that tattoos were out of fashion during my adolescent and early adult years.

I'm 32 and I got no tattoos. I still don't get the idea of tattoos or piercings. Luckily, in the 90s, tattoos didn't seem to be much "in", in Germany.

 

[2jakes]

I'm 32 and I got no tattoos. I still don't get the idea of tattoos or piercings. Luckily, in the 90s, tattoos didn't seem to be much "in", in Germany.

Of the people I know that have
tattoos, tell me it's their way
of honoring loved ones.
Others, it's an expression of
something significant in their
lives.

I once had one applied when I was young at a summer vacation at the beach.
It was a non-permanent type
that washed away when I went
swimming.

As for piercing, I grew up where
the only guys that had them was
pirates in the movies!

 

[2jakes]

"My one & only true love!"

 

[Trenchfriend]

Of the people I know that have
tattoos, tell me it's their way
of honoring loved ones.
Others, it's an expression of
something significant in their
lives.

But, in today's modern times, these reasons can be pretextual arguments, too. This way, they can disguise, just wanting to be present.

 

[2jakes]

But, in today's modern times, these reasons can be pretextual arguments, too. This way, they can disguise, just wanting to be present.

Obviously in "todays modern times" there are many interpretations .

I was refering to the people I have
spoken with that were sincere as
to why they did it and were proud to say so with
no reason to "disguise".

 

[Zombie_61]

"The only difference between tattooed people and not-tattooed people is tattooed people don't care if you're not tattooed." - Unknown

For the most part I've found this to be true. Unless you're a tattoo artist; I don't know anyone who would get a tattoo from someone who isn't tattooed himself or herself.

 

[dnjan]

When my kids went off to college, I asked that if they got any tattoos, to get them someplace that could be covered.
And if they got any piercings, to have them visible.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I don't remotely understand the whole tattoo thing. I find them disturbing on men, and a huge turnoff on women. Part of it is the atavistic response from my Jewish upbringing (in which tattoos and other body mutilation practices are sternly outlawed, a shondeh), but mostly I can't see why in the world you'd commit to marking your body permanently. It just seems like a seriously dumb thing to do, and it immediately makes me question why I should listen to this person.

 

[tonyb]

I'm reminded of those old mug shots taken of criminal suspects wherein the subject's tattoos were photographed as well as his (or her, rarely) face. This often involved rolling up the subject's shirt sleeves.

 

[MisterCairo]

From the hilarious Anne Taintor line...

 

[2jakes]

One time when I was at the motor vehicle offices to renew my drivers license.
In the middle of the processing I noticed two police officers approach the clerk
that was assisting me.
Two more officers came from behind me and "escorted" me to another room.
I asked what was wrong, but was told to shut up. I was searched for weapons.
Was told to sit down and place both hands on the table. I asked again what was
the matter, but was told to shut up and do as I was told otherwise they would get
physical.
Turns out that I fit the physical description of a convict who escaped, was armed and
had killed people in the past.
His name was identical to mine, both of his parents had the same first name as
my folks.
His social security was the same except for the last two numbers.
And my face looked familiar to them, but they weren't sure where they had seen me before.
Their attitude towards me was very hostile, almost as if they were hoping I would
react physically so they could hit me.
I didn't fall for it. I did as I was told.
I kept wondering what I could have done that angered them so much. All I could think
was perhaps I forgot to pay a parking violation, but was puzzled why they were so
angry over that.
After a few minutes which seemed like hours, another officer came in smiling at me
and very apologetic.
My fingerprints were different and I didn't have the tattoos like the escaped convict.

I told them I was a news photographer. (I was now allowed to speak)
They realized that it was at police conferences and police investigations, which I cover,
is where they had seen me before.
They asked if I wanted to leave through another exit in order to avoid embarrassment.
I told them no, I had done nothing to be embarrassed about.

I did ask for their business card in case this should ever happen again.
They were happy to comply.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Somewhere there's a hardboiled escaped convict who is annoyed that he keeps getting your junk mail.

Tattoos, for what it's worth, have never bothered me -- I know a lot of kids who have them, and it's their culture, not mine, so who am I to judge? One of the kids at work, on her eighteenth birthday, went out and got her grandmother's name and birth-death dates tattooed on her shoulder, which I thought was very sweet, in a turn of the 21st Century kind of way.

The only people I knew as a kid who had them -- that I knew of -- were old sailors, who had things like "OKINAWA 1944" on their forearms. There was, however, a faddish popularity in our neighborhood of lick-and-stick tattoos that came with bubble gum and depicted baseball players. I greatly upset my grandmother once by coming into the kitchen with a blurry reproduction of Pete Rose's face applied to the middle of my forehead. She didn't see well, and though I'd developed a bad case of impetigo.

If I ever got a tattoo, it would be an image of mistletoe, positioned right above my intergluteal cleft.

 

[2jakes]

If I ever got a tattoo, it would be an image of mistletoe, positioned right above my intergluteal cleft.

Looking forward to your "tat" in
December!

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

I don't remotely understand the whole tattoo thing. I find them disturbing on men, and a huge turnoff on women. Part of it is the atavistic response from my Jewish upbringing (in which tattoos and other body mutilation practices are sternly outlawed, a shondeh), but mostly I can't see why in the world you'd commit to marking your body permanently. It just seems like a seriously dumb thing to do, and it immediately makes me question why I should listen to this person.

There are those who think the same thing of circumcision - a barbaric ritual mutilation. (Don't worry, I'm circumcised and I was born Catholic).

When I talk to young people contemplating tattoos I caution them that their tattoos won't age the way their skin will, they'll be faded and distorted when they're middle-aged. But they can't imagine being middle-aged so it makes no impression.

 

[BobHufford]

When I talk to young people contemplating tattoos I caution them that their tattoos won't age the way their skin will, they'll be faded and distorted when they're middle-aged.

I just waited until I was middle-aged to get mine.

 

[Stearmen]

As for piercing, I grew up where
the only guys that had them was
pirates in the movies!

There was a tradition of getting your left ear pierced if you became a Shellback!

 

[2jakes]

There was a tradition of getting your left ear pierced if you became a Shellback!

Makes sense.
But had to look it up!

 

[MisterCairo]

Makes sense.
But had to look it up!

I morphed from unclean tadpole to shell back in September 2007, crossing from south to north over the equator in the Arabian Sea. I was "initiated" along with about six others. The process started weeks prior.

It's a rather fun initiation, and one of the few still allowed to proceed in these more, um, enlightened times!

http://www.nauticapedia.ca/Articles/Crossing_the_Line.php

 

[Doctor Strange]

There are those who think the same thing of circumcision - a barbaric ritual mutilation. (Don't worry, I'm circumcised and I was born Catholic).

When I talk to young people contemplating tattoos I caution them that their tattoos won't age the way their skin will, they'll be faded and distorted when they're middle-aged. But they can't imagine being middle-aged so it makes no impression.

I'm not going to argue that circumcision isn't comparable "mutilation". There's absolutely no point in trying to apply modern logic to religious dictates from thousands of years ago. For the record, I am far from religious (and back when I was, it was in a VERY liberal sixties-era Reform Judaism), but I still retain a bit of my youthful programming. Tattoos don't appeal to me as a matter of personal taste, the religious prohibition is only a vague background influence.

 

[Trenchfriend]

You know, that you are 30+, when the teenage girls begin to whistle at you.