oloriel | Oh, one last thing:

Dear Guy on the Train Wearing that Kanji Tattoo,

I know that having Chinese symbols printed onto some part of your body is supposed to be cool. However, when you get a tattoo, it is always good to know what you get written on your arms. Upside-down Kanji are already bad; most people actually guess correctly when asked which way it should point, even without any knowledge about the language; it's a question of aesthetics, apparently. Another problem is: What do you want your tattoo to mean? It's all very well to tell the person doing the tattooing that you want to have "Strength and Honour" when that person instead puts "Pestilence and Diarrhoea" there. CHECK. THE MEANING. YOURSELF. Really. Because 定食 may look impressive; but what it means is "menu". That's right, like that list of meals in a restaurant. Unless you wanted "menu" on your arm, a tattoo like that isn't cool but rather ridiculous, although I'm willing to admit that most people probably wouldn't notice.

Condescendingly, the linguistic smart ass.

~~~

To the Young Woman with the Tengwar Tattoo,

I am the last person in the world to deny the aesthetic value of Tengwar. If you want to carry your name in Tengwar on your arm, so be it. However, it is helpful to learn to actually write in them, because, unless your name is "ss h f ss" (which would guarantee my sincerest pity for you), something went very wrong. You know, just downloading a Tengwar font and typing your name in ordinary Word doesn't do the trick; you don't just get the tengwa for, say, "t" by pushing the "t" button on your keyboard. Oh no, sad as it is, you will need a special word processor program for that. Maybe this might be a time to insert links for TengScribe or OTT. Never fear, they're free; and if you don't trust the evil internet, why don't you read the appendices to The Lord of the Rings. Yes, that implies work; but if you can either have "ss h f ss" written on your arm forever or invest some research work into the way of writing whatever name it is you want, I think it's worth the effort.
Woops, too late.

Sincerely, your friendly neighborhood geek.

Honestly.