10 Tattoo Cliches To Avoid At All Cost

Kate, I don’t know what your tattoo says about you but the fact that you have at least one, and then bash everyone else for theirs, screams that you need counseling.

To be short and sweet…You suck!

How could you miss the infamous “Tramp Stamp” tattoo?! This tattoo marks nearly every skeez’s lower back. At least a top 3 tattoo cliche…

This is just a bitchy commentary that lacks depth of the topic (tattoos) and pose. I see no intelligence on your part as an author not your style that you are an interesting person.

nothing says sloppy seconds like a tat

DEAD-ON.

sorry …that came out a bit hard…alol

How cliche! A fad whose time has come and gone. No one is creative anymore; everyone just follows the leader (be it a movie or TV star or an athlete). Sad that we have become a nation of pretenders. Why not make something of your life rather than blemish what God gave you?

Wow you people are harsh! I think to each their own, but i happen to agree with some of the spots you write about. I currently have 7 tatts and counting, all strategically placed because i work in corporate america. I have one bad drunken tribal on my leg, but other than that all of mine are original and unique, they also have much meaning to me. Tattoos can go either way, classy or trashy…and what you listed are the trshy ones. And the quote from Smiley “Why not make something of your life rather than blemish what God gave you” I have made something of my life, i am a mature, responsible, 20 something yearold who makes high six figures. I have made an exeptional life and complimented my body that god gave me with meaningful art.

I just found this in an old posting. Seemed to capture the essence of my earlier post. Cheers!

Once the symbol of nonconformity in a hopelessly conservative political landscape, the tattoo has now become the exact opposite – total conformity posing as nonconformity. Like when emo kids pretend they’re all total individuals that nobody understands, but they all somehow manage to look, sound, and act the same. Tattoos have taken on many different meanings in modern society: men with any sort of oriental symbol tattooed on their arms or torso are generally pretentious, pseudo-political douchebags. Guys with barbed wire circling their arms tend to be insecure assholes who probably work out a lot, refer to themselves as “badasses,” and secretly hate everything about who they are. Granted, there are still those older men who got tattoos back when they actually meant something, but they are a dying breed in the face of this new wave of tattooed douchebaggery – the men who were getting inked back in the day are forced to watch, horrified, as an entire generation of neo-yuppies singlehandedly steals one of their generational symbols and perverts it beyond all recognition.

I have 3 differant tatoo’s some of which you have down graded, however each and every one of mine I put alot of thought into and they have special meaning. Since you say you have a tatoo here is an bit of advise; people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Nice! There need to be more blogs like this. You forgot Chinese or Japanese scripts, though: the biggest cliche of them all.

I think this is akin to songwriting advice blogs: lyrical cliches to avoid. The problem is creator myopia, i.e. it’s easier to see problems and unoriginality in other people’s work. Songwriters seriously think they are being original when they say “When I look into your eyes” and “I’ll be there for you,” and “When my back’s against the wall,” etc.

And I’m sure people get upset when you point out that something PERMANENT they have committed their life to, a tattoo, is not as ‘unique’ as they thought it was. The mass public, judging by music and movie charts, have notoriously bad taste and doesn’t actually want something original and interesting but, instead, usually goes for tired, formulaic, trite, hackneyed and easily-digestible material.

But that’s fine because that helps the indie hipsters feel more interesting, and there’d be an overwhelming amount of excellent material otherwise. And then again, the important thing about a tattoo is that it means something significant to the person. Why does it matter if it’s ‘original’ and ‘unique’? Tattoos are by nature iconic, and icons are inherently cliche. If a person is a Christian and wears a cross, is that a cliche or a connection to a tradition that is meaningful to her or him? Part of tattooing is a sense of belonging and connection , literally marking out a connection to other like-minded people and signally a connection to a commitment to body art and the malleability of the body. As you know, tattoos emerged from tribal scarification of the flesh and often served as rites of passage, marking out the person as a fully-fledged member of the community.

That being said, your article is very important since it makes people in the market for a tattoo more self-critical and aware about their choice of image. At least if they get the dolphin on the ankle, etc. it will be with the full awareness that it’s a cliche, and that’s better than blind ignorance that it is. The point of a tattoo is that someone is choosing to do it.

So much hate! It is astounding to see people be so judgmental. People either feel one extreme or the other, either pro tattoo and oooh it defines the inner me, or hating on them saying they are stupid and cliche. Its like discussing music with a 10th grader, no more basis in reality then flying dragons. Way I figure it is this, the only opinion you should even bother making about tattoos is whether or not you’re going to get one. Who cares if anyone else does?

I have a fairy and butterfly tattoo. I honestly was bummed that it was a fad. But my Native American name given by my paternal grandma translates to butterfly, and my maternal grandmother, has always loved fairies and gardens and has surrounded me with fairy gifts since I was little. Though my tattoo may look like a cliche, it has a lot of meaning to me.

Tattoos are artworks for people to express themselves. I do agree that their are definately tattoo mistakes, but until you ask the person “why did you get that tattoo?” You can’t assume anything about the person. The person with the Japanese script may think they have the word “love” when it really says “dog”, or they may have been adopted into a Japanese family and the script has in depth meaning.