New poster long time reader
I have been thinking about getting a Kanji tattoo, but I do not want to get something that i think means one thing but actually means another.
I am just wondering if any of you know if this symbol actually means “Happiness”
In actual meaning it is closer to “lucky” but for some reason translators often translate it as “happy”.
I sympathize with you in advance about the avalanche of snide responses you’re probably going to get about why you shouldn’t get a kanji tattoo.
It’s been a few years since I studied Japanese, but don’t many of the characters have multiple possible meanings? If that’s the case, it might not be possible to find a character that means “only” what you want.
Yeah, a lot of people are going to tell you that it’s a bad idea to have something that you can’t read indelibly written on your skin.
If I were going to get “happiness” as a tattoo, that is not the character I would choose.
Some possibly better choices:
幸
幸福
喜
This is true but the one mentioned by the OP ( 福 ) is pretty reliable. If you want to get downright technical about it, it doesn’t have any meaning at all. It signifies the word fragments fuku or saiwai which generally mean happiness or good luck, although they can be used purely for sound value as part of some other word.
Brain Wreck, where were you when I needed to know how to write “You gonna eat that?” for a tattoo I wanted…
How about a nice proverb instead?
http://www.oneaday.org/archives.html
Happy and pleased with oneself
May you be happy and prosperous
Never forget the source of your happiness
Just a note, the font is not considered attractive.
I won’t be among those saying you shouldn’t get a kanji tattoo (though it is somewhat faddish and I have to resist the urge to look down on flash).
But if you are going to get a kanji make sure you get it from someone with a decent sense of calligraphy.
Are you frakkin’ kidding me? Are you frakkin’ kidding? How could you even think about getting a permanent mark on your body in a language/culture you don’t understand? What are you trying to say to others that the language you and they actually do understand can’t convey? Good fucking christ. Pfft, god I’m gonna FUCKING PIT you. USE YOUR BRAIN. Jeebus fucking christ talk about masturbation. Ooooo look at the pretty letters… .
Kanji just seemed to be the best it is small and can easily fit on the under side of my wrist. I have been thinking of other symbols for happiness but I can not find much
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1MKJʡ
Here’s more information than you probably need about the character in question. The various links on the page will provide you with all sorts of information and ways to find kanji. Not the most user-friendly interface in the world, but the amount of information and ways to search for things is amazing. Play around a bit and I’m sure you can find a few happinesses.
Oh, and, yeah, the one you provide has meanings of blessing, fortune, wealth and luck.
I don’t think you whooshed 'im, Operation Ripper.
My name can be spelled out phonetically in kanji with the characters for ‘woman’ and ‘flower’.
女 - the usual kun-yomi read in isolation is “onna”… but as an on-yomi, as used in a compounding form, it could be read “JO.”
花 - the kun-yomi is “hana”
So I know I’m probably stretching the rules of Japanese phonotactics here, because all the examples I could find of 花 as the second element in a compound change the pronunciation, as in ikebana. (When it’s the first element in a compound, it keeps the basic pronunciation, as in hanabi ‘fireworks’, literally ‘flower-fire’.)
If the two characters are taken in isolation, and if the first one could somehow get the on-yomi, then perhaps 女花 could be read as “jo hana” - but I don’t know if that’s too much of a stretch. Foreign names like mine are supposed to be written in katakana, but why would anyone want a katakana tattoo?
Well, there are the so-called jubako compounds which consist of mixed on and kun readings. Not all that common, though. And even in that case I think that jobana would be the more natural compound.
OK, now that all the Japanese speakers and writers are in the thread, how do you write “You gonna eat that?” in Japanese.
See, cause I want to get a nice koi tattoo, and koi grow to fill their environment, and I’m fat. So it’s funny. See how funny it is?
[Moderator Warning]
Operation Ripper, you’ve been around long enough to know that this kind of response is completely inappropriate for GQ. If you can’t restrain yourself better than that, you should refrain from posting anything at all. Do not do this again.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator.
There used to be a town in Toyama called Jōhana, written 城端 (castle’s edge). It’s somewhat famous for its traditional crafts. How about 嬢花 or 嬢華 – also jō-hana – which reads daughter/miss - flower. There’s less confusion, as the first character can only be read jō.
As for the op, I’d like to suggest:
ハ
ピ
ネ
ス
I know, I know, it’s not kanji…
これ、食べんの？
Yeah, but I’m still right, no?
Or in my area:
I’m assuming whatever it is is closer to the listener than the speaker, so I’m going with sore as the indicator.
それをたべるの。(sore o taberu no) The “no” is a casual question marker, so ? is optional here. “O” is more properly written “wo” but the w sound is basically gone in speech, though still nominally there in writing. For easier reading, I left it out.
それをたべるなの？ (sore o taberu na no?) More like “Are you actually going to eat that” and has a feminine feeling.
それ、食う？ (sore kuu?) If you want to sound like a guy.