# I dislike tattoos. Who else does?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 27, 2005, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386 "2005-07-27T09:15:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/21 "2005-07-27T16:56:38Z")
I don’t care for them. My girlfriend has one, the nicest thing I can say about it is that it’s discreet. I don’t admire ornate tatoos on others, and I’ve never wanted one for myself.
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### Author:  [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/22 "2005-07-27T17:02:11Z")
I don’t think I’d ever get a tattoo. I have a couple of piercings, but I can always take them out and have a not-that-noticable hole, whereas with a tattoo that’s not feasible. I want to get one of those henna ones right before I come home on break from college, though, just to freak my mother out. Or a fake nose piercing. 😛
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### Author:  [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/23 "2005-07-27T17:13:22Z")
I have nothing against tattoos, conceptually. In theory, I really like them. But the vast, vast, VAST majority of the ones I’ve seen are just stupid-looking. I browse a body modification website regularly, and I very rarely see a tattoo that actually looks good to me.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/24 "2005-07-27T17:13:45Z")
> [@Larry Borgia](#):
>
> Not a slam on people who are really into tatoos. But even then, have you thought about what it’s going to look like when you’re sixty?
Old, faded, and wrinkly, just like the rest of me. Never really understood this argument. You think tattoos look bad on young people, so you think tattoos look bad on old people. Fair enough. I think tattoos look good on young people; what makes you think I’m going to suddenly start agreeing with you when we’re talking about old people?
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### Author:  [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/25 "2005-07-27T17:15:56Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#):
>
> I’ve never seen a piece of art that was improved by being on someone’s skin, and I’ve never seen skin that was better because it had ink in it.
Agreed.
Alas, my girlfriend is intent on getting one. At least it’ll be small and discreet.
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### Author:  [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/26 "2005-07-27T17:20:49Z")
I just don’t get the narcissism of tattooing. I certainly don’t want to look at art inked in my skin and I’m fairly certain no one else does either. If you say that your tattoo is for your own reasons and pleasure then there is a little too much self-love going on there. If you get tattoo for other people to look at ( like in the small of your back where you can’t see it yourself) then that is just plain old conceit.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/27 "2005-07-27T17:20:50Z")
The reason I’ll never get a tatoo is because there’s nothing I can imagine that I think will look good _the rest of my life_. My tastes change too much.
When they develop technology to make them still permanent but easily and cheaply removable, then I’ll consider it.
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### Author:  [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/28 "2005-07-27T17:22:32Z")
Unfortunately, most of the guys whose profiles I see on [Match.com](http://Match.com) agree with y’all: I get drawn in by a nice picture, and as I read about the guy I start thinking that he’d be a good one to write to, and then near the very end of the profile are the turn-ons/turn-offs lists . . . and he’s picked “tattoos” as a turn-off. Honest is good, and if he doesn’t like my tattoos he won’t like me, but it’s frustrating. Where are all of the non-judgemental guys in NoVa?! 😉
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/29 "2005-07-27T17:22:47Z")
I don’t like tattoos because they say to me, “This person has decided to make hi/r one and only body, which is a real live work of art created by Og, into a permanent — DO YOU HEAR ME PEOPLE I SAY _PERMANENT_ canvas for some not-nearly-so-worthwhile art, created by some skeeve for pecuniary compensation, which will very likely not reflect anything of lasting meaning in this person’s life.”
Tattoos are a waste of human skin. Which is too precious to give up for the sake of a fad. If there were a good way to do nonpermanent tats, I probably wouldn’t mind them so much.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/30 "2005-07-27T17:31:02Z")
The thing that bugs me about tattoos is the way they seem to turn blue with age. Is that the colour they start out with, or is it really a kind of fading? If it’s fading, then… blecch.
Other than that, I have no strong feelings about them.
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### Author:  [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/31 "2005-07-27T17:45:50Z")
Put me in the doesn’t-really-like-tattoos-but-they’re-not-a-dealbreaker-unless-they’re-huge-and-gaudy-with-flames-and-skulls-and-such camp. I’ve already started a thread about how I don’t really like guys with long hair, either. Or motorcycles, unless they’re quiet, and used to get from point A to B, without too much showboating along the way.
Figures that the people who possess the physical characteristics that I dislike are the most apt to be wearing large quantities of leather, which I do enjoy. Fayetteville, AR is home to a huge bike rally every year, and although I don’t like tattoos/long hair/loud bikes,
TMI below!
I still walk around with a hard-on the entire time.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/32 "2005-07-27T17:49:22Z")
I’m honestly afraid that tattoos will become the leisure suits of body modding.
A leisure suit that you can’t take off and hide in the closet. It gives me chills.
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### Author:  [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/33 "2005-07-27T17:50:30Z")
I’m not a big friend of tatoos either. I have friends who have them, and so does my sister, but they don’t bother me. I do get a little bugged by the fact my sister keeps saying “If you ever want to get one, let me know. I know a great place”. I’ve already told her that I have no interest in getting one…ever. I’m not sure she fully grasps this(She’s younger then me and has two tatoos and already planning for a third).
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### Author:  [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/34 "2005-07-27T17:54:16Z")
If ever I got a tat, forget the geeky barcode or binary. Nosiree, I’d go for one of those ornate heart with a scroll running across it. In the scroll, the word “Moth”
Wait, wouldn’t a permanent Simpsons reference be even more geeky than the barcode?
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/35 "2005-07-27T18:05:17Z")
> [@Misnomer](#):
>
> . . . and he’s picked “tattoos” as a turn-off. Honest is good, and if he doesn’t like my tattoos he won’t like me, but it’s frustrating. Where are all of the non-judgemental guys in NoVa?!
I don’t think that’s entirely fair. If someone listed tattoos as a turn-on, that’s just as judgemental as what you’re describing.
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### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/36 "2005-07-27T18:22:13Z")
If I got a tattoo, it would say “tattoos suck.” Nothing like paradoxical irony.
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### Author:  [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/37 "2005-07-27T18:31:03Z")
I agree. It is a total turnoff to me, literally.
Several years ago, I spent a fair amount of time courting a young lady. We liked each other, had lots of things in common and were great friends. One day, we decided to do the deed. When we got nekkid, I saw that she had a tattoo. Nothing garish, just a little butterfly. But it was a tattoo. She might as well have had a suppurating cyst. I got dressed and walked out.
Total turnoff.
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### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/38 "2005-07-27T18:44:20Z")
Uh…I have to say, I don’t really care for tattoos, but in the situation you’ve just described, I hardly think I would let a little butterfly get in the way.
Har har.
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### Author:  [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/39 "2005-07-27T18:52:54Z")
They’re OK - but not for me.
VCNJ~
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### Author:  [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dislike-tattoos-who-else-does/314386/40 "2005-07-27T18:54:18Z")
Personally, I never found anything that I wanted on my skin for the rest of my life. YMMV. Plenty of my friends have them, and some of them are pretty cool, but certainly not for me.
The other problem I’ve found with them, is that the folks that can least afford them, seem to have the most of them. Thoughts? (Not my place to tell them how to spend their money, but it seems accurate in my experience)
-Butler
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