# Bar-code tattoos. Individualism or irony? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 15, 2001, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-code-tattoos-individualism-or-irony/58116 "2001-03-15T18:34:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-code-tattoos-individualism-or-irony/58116/21 "2001-03-19T02:13:55Z")
> [@](#): > > ps: newsflash. I now know that you know that I know that you know that I know that the joke’s really on me. This can go on for years if necessary. I’m an infinite idiot. For real. What are you talking about?😉 Sorry to be such a prick…but I started to have serious issues withdumb tattoos as everyone around me started getting dumbass Chinese characters permanently inserted under their skin. My favorite dumb character tattoo story: My friend Sue is Chinese American. She is friends with Mrs. Choo, who runs the little home-cookin Chinese eatery down on Prospect. A friend of Sue’s wanted a Chinese Character tattoo to “express his personal philosophy,” as all these jackasses do, so he enlisted Sue to translate for him as he explained to Mrs. Choo what his philosophy was so she could come up with the proper characters for him (Sue cannot write Chinese). So he tells Mrs. Choo, through Sue, about his personal philosophy…full of hope for the future, yet still aware of this deep void within myself…a space that must be filled…seeking happiness at all turns, but overcome with a constant sadness…blah blah blah. When he was finished, Mrs. Choo thought for a moment, and then said to Sue: “Tell him to go out into the country and find a large, old tree. Tell him to go and sit under that tree and be very quiet for a very long time. I promise that if he does this for a while, he won’t want that tattoo anymore.” Score one for Mrs. Choo. That and folks like the guy looking around the store I used to work at with “melody, water, dragon” tattooed on his arm in characters. I thought maybe the three of them together made a word I didn’t know, so I asked…“What’s that on your arm?” “Oh…this says ‘water,’ this says ‘melody,’ and this says ‘dragon.’” Bleack. Sorry, probably shoulda gone to the pit for this one. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2001, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-code-tattoos-individualism-or-irony/58116/22 "2001-03-19T04:21:22Z")
Man, I know this will really ruin the day of any SF hipster who happen to have a barcode tat, but they’ve been around here in Cincinnati for at least eight years (which was the first time I saw one, and on a really unhip idiot, even.) By Mark Twain’s logic, then, they’ve woulda been _gauche_ on the coasts since approximately 1983. Hmmm… I guess that puts them within the current date range of cool retro, so nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-code-tattoos-individualism-or-irony/58116/23 "2001-03-20T00:10:42Z")
I think the ulitmate irony would be a tattoo that said “Leviticus 19:28\*” on it. \*Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD." ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-code-tattoos-individualism-or-irony/58116/24 "2001-03-20T05:07:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AWB \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Inky- \* > > \*\* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by AWB \* > > > **Those with the barcodes are escaped genetically enhanced superhuman prototypes, and should be avoided. Call Dr. Lydecker immediately!** > > > > I take it this is something from a comic book? \*\* > > Actually, the new James Cameron TV series “Dark Angel”. \*\* Are they on that “Dark Angel” show, too? IIRC, I first saw one of these on Bruce Willis in “12 Monkeys.” I seem to remember them being in other sci-fi things as well. To me they seem to have a creepy Nazi concentration camp thing going on with them. (I don’t think the hipsters are thinking about that, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Gatsby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gatsby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatsby)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-code-tattoos-individualism-or-irony/58116/25 "2001-03-20T05:53:15Z")
> [@](#): > > So I’ll hold off until Satan comes up with an ANSI approved and crossplatform compatible reader. Actually, most handheld scanners you buy today are ANSI approved and will read damned near _any_ 1D bar code you can throw at them. I don’t think Satan is involved in the approval process, though. I’d be impressed with a readable 2D bar code. Show me a verifiable Datastrip, MaxiCode, or even PDF 417 on your skin and I’d be very impressed. 😃 Seriously, I wonder how many of those tats are real bar codes. -Gatsby (who knows way too much about bar codes) ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-code-tattoos-individualism-or-irony/58116/26 "2001-03-20T19:31:25Z")
Re: sci-fi. Kyle whatsisname from the first Terminator movie has a barcode on his arm. There’s no question that without sci-fi there’d be no fantastic element to having a barcode tattoo. It’d just be sick. Re: concentration camps. It’s true that the labour and death camps probably had more than a passing influence on the use of barcodes in sci-fi as a straightforward symbol of nightmarish, dehumanised cattle-culture. I’m tempted to say that because of the camps no-one should wear a tattoo, that it should be considered a sick thing to do, but very few of those who have them probably relate them DIRECTLY to the camps, more to the middle-man of science-fiction. And you can’t insist science-fiction stop using such images, because free art is free art. Re: hassling the beast. Whatever form the beast finally takes, and God knows there have been enough theories, the chances are he probably likes us wearing them even now. Re: cash. People in LA have too money, too much free time, and too much of an influence on pop-culture. While I’m sure there are plenty of good people there and good reasons not to nuke it, it just wouldn’t be LA without a devastating earthquake forecast for any minute now. That’s what decadence is all about. Do not get a tattoo. The end of the world is nigh. Learn how to do something useful, like farm or build. This… is getting serious. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-code-tattoos-individualism-or-irony/58116/27 "2001-03-20T19:57:59Z")
And I thought branding was scary… Hehehe…A Leviticus tattoo would be pretty funny. Just something stupid. I wouldn’t mind a claddagh tattoo, though, just because I really really really like claddaghs. Not because of some dumb fad-I just like them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-code-tattoos-individualism-or-irony/58116/28 "2001-03-20T22:35:41Z")
Bar-code tattoos? Let’s think about this for a moment. Information is encoded in a bar code by the exact thickness and spacing of the lines. Human skin is both flexible and elastic, and bends and stretches considerably in the course of ordinary motions. You’d have a hard time “writing” anything on the skin that way, at least if you want it to be readable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-code-tattoos-individualism-or-irony/58116.md?page=1)