<p>Must be a northeast thing, right Consolation? :)</p>
<p>Ha! :D</p>
<p>10char</p>
<p>This is like deja vu! All over again, right MOWC? It’s somehow comforting, if disappointing, that some people are still so unenlightened when it comes to topics like this. I guess it’s no surprise. Tattoos are ubiquitous in many places these days. They are in evidence in all age groups, in all professions, and in every social and financial demographic. I’m not sure why people get so up in arms about an individual’s personal choice, when it doesn’t affect them in even the remotest of ways. </p>
<p>berzelio, I think it’s lovely that you want to honor and remember your grandfather in this way. I’m sorry for your loss and I wish you well in making the decision as to the type of tattoo to get.</p>
<p>Up in arms? Hardly. Personal choice? The OP asked for opinions, and got them.</p>
<p>I know several people who regret getting their tattoos because they were the result of poorly made decisions. My hair stylist once said she was really thankful to her mom for not letting her get a “tramp stamp”.I also know several people who have small tattoos that they are very proud of. I would probably stay away from a patent lawyer with Ed Hardy type of art all over the neck, but I absolutely would not mind working with a lawyer or a banker with a small visible tattoo of Olympic Rings, because my personal experience with Olympic athletes was only positive.</p>
<p>I’m typing this sitting on a lounge chair by the pool outside my hotel room. There are a few folks with visible body “art” around me, and most of those designs are plainly tasteless and ugly. Compared to those shapeless dragons and whatever it was supposed to be, a three-ring Mickey Mouse would be masterpiece! :)</p>
<p>Also, additionally tattoos are socially acceptable and in some cases encouraged in other cultures, even here in America- such as female facial tattoos in the Western Yavapai. I personally chose my tattoo based on historical tattoos of the Cherokee prior to assimilation and it was considered a sacred practice that I am not permited to speak about.</p>
<p>Yeah, pretty sure it’s a “here we go again”,sorry, Consolation, but I DON’T care if someone decides to get a tattoo. I’m not passing judgement. You love it–you live with it. But it is an external permanent reminder of an internal and sometimes fleeting emotion. Someone contemplating getting one should know that if I don’t know you and from where you are coming that tattoos can contribute to (even today in our “enlightened” society) perhaps an unwanted and unwarranted bias against you.
Yeah, the OP wants a very small tattoo on a non-visible spot. Why? To get rid of feelings of loss? To remember great times? The simple fact that it’s a question to consider means the answer is no, don’t do it.</p>
<p>OP, if you are female, your tattoo will probably show in dressy shoes. This may or may not bother you. I just saw a photo of a woman a friend posted to Facebook, and the rather large dark tattoo on the top of her foot looked pretty jarring in evening attire with light-colored shoes.</p>
<p>Although I am in the dislikes-tattoos camp, I must say that the one you describe sounds harmless, and even clever, if the proportions are correct.</p>
<p>2redhares–“I’m not permitted to speak about”…I’m leaving that one alone since it never led to anything good that I’m aware of.</p>
<p>That’s the equivalent of saying, “I heard the juiciest piece of gossip, but I can’t tell you about”. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>American culture encourages tattoos?</p>
<p>There is a beer commercial (Bud Lite Lime?) running these days during sports events that shows an impromptu street party starting up, and features fit young beer drinkers taking off down a slip-n-slide (as fit young beer drinkers so often do during impromptu street parties), and several of the actors have visible tattoos. It’s the first commercial I can recall where the actors are inked. So maybe the ad world and corporate worlds are waking up to the reality around them.</p>
<p>Some people will love your tattoo. I recoil at all things Disney, but that’s just me. Some people won’t like your tattoo, and will judge you for it. They may also judge you for the cut and color of your hair, for your wardrobe choices, the amount of make up you choose to wear, and your position on the Oxford comma. Deal with it. If you want the tattoo, get it done by a very good tattoo artist. If you want everyone to approve of all your life choices, start looking for a very good therapist.</p>
<p>
Shouldn’t be a problem; I’d never hire you.</p>
<p>Listen…the OP asked for opinions. I didn’t realize only yours were valid.</p>
<p>OP, don’t let the nay-sayers get to you. When they say “I would judge you, not hire you, look at you funny, make fun of your haircut, etc. if you had a tattoo”, just ask yourself why you should care what they think. Unless you get a tattoo on your face or neck, you won’t be limiting career potential or really anything else. I have friends in all sorts of professional jobs who have tattoos (sometimes basically their entire body with the exception of face/neck/hands). Even my own profession (physician), which is traditionally one of the most conservative, has tons of people with tattoos. You’d be surprised at how many of my med school classmates and current colleagues have tattoos.</p>
<p>The main reason I would advise anyone to think long and hard before getting a tattoo is that one’s taste changes over the years. I’m horrified when I look at my hairstyle from back in the eighties. I came to hate the dishes I bought we we got married. My decor in our first apartment was contemporary; my current home is traditional, and I’m thinking my retirement home will be simpler and less fussy. In short, you taste may change while your tattoo stays the same. As for all those folks who claim they’ve never, ever regretted a tattoo–I refer you to cognitive dissonance theory.</p>
<p>For some reason neither of my kids has a tattoo or, so far as I know, has even considered getting one. That’s something I should remember when they do all that other stuff that annoys me.</p>
<p>Stupidity is never valid.</p>
<p>We hired a kid recently with tattoos- sleeves the entire arm. Had no idea he had them until one day he wore a short sleeve shirt. He is a great employee does a fantastic job. We once had a young women working for us who had a panther tattoo on her chest. We never knew until she wore a lower cut blouse. This was about 1994 the old men in the office could not get over it.</p>
<p>Along the lines of #54…</p>
<p>I’ve asked my kids to look in their closets, pick a outfit and promise to wear it at least a couple of times a week from today until the day they die. No matter if they gain/lose weight or change their style, cover it up with a different outfit based on work or event etc. they would HAVE to wear this outfit the rest of their lives. If they feel comfortable picking out such an outfit…then they understand the issues surrounding a tattoo.</p>
<p>For women…be a trend setter (again) get a belly chain! They are sexy, removable, an object of discussion and you can wear different kinds. I wore one from 18 - 28… Loved it…It’s also a great weight monitor 
remove it when no longer cute.</p>
<p>A belly chain? Oh, goodness. That was like a flashback from my childhood!</p>
<p>Before this got so strongly one side or the other, I was going to share a “foot tattoo on a young friend story.”
She wanted a memento of her hard work and many struggles to get to her career. She penned out on her foot where most of her shoes and wide strap flip-flops hit and had a small tattoo inked in the hidden area. She likes it because, unlike the shoulder area she thought about, she can slip her shoe off and see it. I’m still grossed out at the idea of ink in that thin-skin area and the pain of needles on your foot, but That’s her decision. I get her decision.</p>
<p>I’m having a harder time with big sleeve , leg , neck tattoos.</p>
<p>A tattoo is not an outfit. </p>
<p>Tattoos can <em>generally</em> be covered. </p>
<p>Doing the sharpie is a good idea. Wearing the same outfit is not. (Even in theory) JMO.</p>
<p>I have a tattoo on the inside of my hips (roughly over an ovary). I’ve met more students than not that have visible tattoos in my cohort. Come to think of it, all the PhD students in both public health and sociology that I’ve met have visible tattoos. Yes, it obviously depends on your area of work.</p>