It's not really that thick, it's just the contrasting on the picture. I think it looks good on him, but I do hint when it gets a little tooooo big!

I answer with. Because if I suddenly loose my voice, and have no pen and paper around. I can point.

If I have alzimers, I will never forget.

And lastly, so when I wear a bikini, people don't havew to ask me my name, i can go "so all that time you were looking at me, you didn't for once think it might have been my name, idiot" brush em off, and make them feel stupid, and insulted, along with being embarresed, works wonders!

Me to

I lived there for two years and attended the tech college, I still have friends there, and in Westbury/Warminster.

In my line of work I see all the tattoos pretty much no matter where they are on the body.

The number of older folk that have them is limited because they are things that are done in the foolishness of youth and back when my old folk were young they were not in fashion.

Men who have been in jail have them and hate the reminders. Men who had them done to impress a girl hate them because the girl they thought they would love for ever has gone but the tattoo is a scar from that time that won't heal. Old soldiers and sailors tend to think of them as ugly, they may have been "smart" when new but now they look like bruised skin.

There are some that just shrug their shoulders and say "I was young" and it does not seem to bother them. Others are just plain embarrassed.


I have met on man who I think will NOT regret it. He was a master of Kung Fu. He has had the dragon symbol of his style put on his arm. It is simple (one colour) and solid. It won't spoil as the skin ages and stretches. Age spots won't deface it either. It has a deep and spiritual meaning for him.


Contrasts this with a builder who comes to me who had a Chinese dragon put over his whole back because they were in fashion and is now having it covered over with celtic symbols because he now hates the dragon and celtic is "in". The man is neither Chinese nor Celtic.

I've decided that after graduation celebrations i'm heading down and having my first tattoo!

Waited this long because dad really disapproves of tattoos, and I know blah blah no right to tell me what to do blah blah my life etc etc but I feel pretty damned grateful for everything he's done to see me through uni and be debt-free when I get out the other side (even if a lot of it was harassing me until I got a job).

But after graduation all bets are off!

I'm having a bass clef put on my left wrist as a reminder of the amazing time i've had doing music for 21 years (i'm doing a masters in management and computing next year, leaving my musical education at completion ). It'll be left wrist because when you play piano, bass clef is in the left hand and treble clef is in the right. And it'll only be a bass clef because I sing bass/baritone. I think a few of us are getting clefs put on our wrists at the end of the degree, we might all go together!

Also i'll be getting a much larger "Credo" put on my side at some point. It'll be a simple design and one colour, and it means a lot to me being the first word of the Creed - "Credo in unum deum, patrem omnipotentem".

I like tattoos, stylish ones that is. Meaningful ones... My friend has a tattoo of his bands logo on the back of his arm amongst some others and that one's pretty damned amazing. Another friend had a load of stars put on the top of his arms and shoulders which matched his girlfriends ones. They split up, and have both spent a fortune on laser surgery (on the visible ones).

I guess as with all art it's subjective.

Hmm, I am surprised that such a move would not be career limiting. I know that if I ran a bar and two musicians were auditioning for bar pianist I would choose the one without the tattoo. Same for a singer.

If you were going to go into teaching a visible tattoo would definitely count against you at interview too.

Of course there are plenty of jobs where it would not matter at all. However I can't think of many where an advantage would be gained by sporting a visible tat.

Surely you would forget who the name relates to

Should have got it on your chest then </douchebag>

Seen a girl with arse antlers with a girls name below it..... can't think of a situation it's suitable for....

My gf's tattoo is a ring of text like a bracelet around her left write, it is a reminder of moving on, only a few people know what it really means to her. The text reads "Through life we are blindfolded, so deep breath, best foot forward". It is in no way offensive, and at a quick glance indeed looks like a bracelet, she occasionally covers it up with chunky watches/bracelets or shirts with large cuffs.


I'm surprised that for a job in a bar you would require you to not have a tattoo.
What if the person with the tattoo was much, much better than the other?

We had a few teachers at school who had tattoos, one had been in the navy and had something or other wrapped around an anchor, it had something to do with leaving that life and being more grounded. Another was a fairly young maths teacher, who had some complicated looking equation on his lower left arm (I'm sure it could have been counted as cheating had he had it at uni). The other which springs to mind was a much older maths teacher who had been a biker in his youth, and still was to an extent...

Target practice

But why CC? Why be judgemental purely on the fact that they have this on themselves?

My boyfriend is a Primary school teacher.

CC, your comment is nothing to judge by.

Thoughts on tattoos.

Firstly, I have a huge needle phobia - so the very idea of being pierced, tattooed or altered makes me cringe big time inside. I’m that affected by the idea that I have yet to have a flu jab, despite being in one of the target groups. So it’s not really tattoos, per se, it’s the process of getting them done: needles, pain... People tell me I should get an ear pierced, but that just is not going to happen.

That said, I do find the whole tattoo aesthetic malarky a mixed bag. I have seen some truly gross looking tattoos. Some are just ugly - probably done with a biro and compass in the bogs. Some are just ugly/nasty - an aesthetic judgement made by the wearer that others may not agree with. Some are old, green and leeching - once fine work turned sour.

Some tattoos are genuinely works of art - complex, well executed, sharp lines and fresh looking colours. Whether they stay that fresh depends on how good the inks are, and how well the wearer looks after their body as they pass through middle age to their dotage. There are some staggeringly good tattoos out there, and I do appreciate them when I see them.

I think we do have to accept that they are not everyone’s taste, and they will affect employment prospects despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary. Society is far too conservative for them to be accepted by the mainstream. This will change as time passes, I guess, but not overnight.

Great post Paul, thanks for your view, FWIW I also have a fear of needles, but not to the same extend that you do, I'm generally ok as long as I can't see the needle itself.

I would totally agree with that but I am seeing signs that, at least with small unobtrusive even if visible tattoos, this is already changing. I recently worked with a lady in a senior position in government and she had a lovely little cluster of leaves inside her right wrist. It obviously hadn't effected her career path and was visible.

I do however thing that large obvious, visible tattoos could effect career moves in many places still. Everybody to their own is my perspective I do think they can get to look silly as one gets older though.

There is a shortage at the moment and it is easy to get jobs in teaching. My point is not that one can't get jobs when inked up it is that it may be harder. Some people don't like them some jobs prohibit them.

If I were on a panel whether it should or not I am sure that it would be a factor (of course not a major factor) in if the person were to get the job or not. If that is true for me it is bound to be true for others.

I wonder how many girls have not got the modelling job they wanted because of an ugly tat?

Why do it to yourself when temporary alternatives exist and can give the desired affect?


On an aside, I don't tend to like piercings either. However I can see the point. They allow a lot of the self expression and of course when the person is a little older they do come out.

CC