• undergroundoverground@lemmy.world
    169·
    2 months ago

    I knew a guy who had “bad to the bone” written on his neck in Chinese. The problem is, the phrase doesn’t translate at all.

    So, his tattoo read as “my bones are bad”

    Tbf, he was a clown and had something like that coming.

    • bricklove@midwest.socialEnglish
      691·
      2 months ago

      Now the day I was born The nurses all gathered 'round And they gazed in wide wonder At the horror they had found The head nurse spoke up Said, “Leave this one for dead” She could tell right away That my bones were bad

      My bones are bad My bones are bad B-B-B-B-Bad B-B-B-B-Bad B-B-B-B-Bad

      My bones are bad

    • 😈MedicPig🐷BabySaver😈@lemmy.world
      211·
      2 months ago

      Mine is similar. On my forearm,not my neck (yuck). It’s supposed to be “blood and guts”. Literal translation equals something about “inside organs”.

      I’m okay with that. If you actually discuss the meaning of it works out fine.

      I got that tattoo because I actually work with “blood and guts” as a Paramedic.

    • Unbecredible@lemm.eeEnglish
      31·
      2 months ago

      Not his fault, that’s just a mean or ignorant tatooist. Why wouldn’t they just do a literal word for word translation if there’s no equivalent phrase in Chinese?

      Like if the phrase “great to the neck” has some special meaning in Chinese but not English, you can still write the english words “great to the neck” on someone’s skin.