# Non-inked Dopers: Why not? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394 "2006-02-28T00:05:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/21 "2006-02-28T00:47:05Z")
I like them fine, don’t mind needles and have a fairly high pain threshhold generally. But speaking as a guy who compulsively changes my desktop background every 1-3 days, I just figure I’d eventually get sick of whatever I got. Now when they develop some king of nanobot tatoo that can reconfigure itself periodically - THEN I’ll get one ;). - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/22 "2006-02-28T00:47:45Z")
I’ve done enough things in my life that I’ve regretted later. I am not going to add getting a tatoo to the list. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/23 "2006-02-28T00:48:00Z")
> [@Belrix](#): > > Have you chosen _not_ to get a tattoo? Only in the sense that everything I’ve ever _not_ done has been a choice. I think people look great naked. They look _best_ naked. As a massage therapist I’ve seen a lot of body art, some of it very beautiful. But I’ve never seen any that appealed to me more than the skin it was injected into. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/24 "2006-02-28T00:49:03Z")
Mainly because of the same reason I haven’t learned to play golf – little to no interest; and in the case of tattoos, no perception whatever of a payoff to make it worth my bother. A close second is a certain preference that any piercing of my skin for the purpose of inserting a foreign substance be for medical purposes, and happen as little as humanly necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/25 "2006-02-28T00:50:50Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I’ve done enough things in my life that I’ve regretted later. I am not going to add getting a tatoo to the list. Well, Frank, you got some splainin’ to do. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/26 "2006-02-28T00:52:11Z")
Huh – I see **silenus** had gone right trough to the essentials, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/27 "2006-02-28T01:02:59Z")
I think that they are stupid looking. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/28 "2006-02-28T01:06:11Z")
Why waste good beer money getting a tattoo? ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/29 "2006-02-28T01:12:03Z")
All I’ll say is, I’m glad I only have one and it’s strategically placed on the back of my neck where I can’t see it and usually no one else can, either. I don’t want any more for the one of the same reasons as Tamerlane – I’ll get bored with them! If they invent some sort of nano-tech tattoo that can change every day, I’ll get another one. (But I have to keep the one I have. I got it with my sister and she has the same one. Plus it sums up our relationship pretty succinctly, even if she changes favorite colors like underwear). ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/30 "2006-02-28T01:12:57Z")
I just think that they are ugly. And common. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/31 "2006-02-28T01:27:45Z")
I could probably go back through the thread and cut and paste a whole bunch of the reasons that everybody else has given; but instead, I’ll just say, “What they all said.” Plus, the idea of making a permanent alteration to my body just creeps me out somehow. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/32 "2006-02-28T01:34:36Z")
What everybody else said, particularly about the needles and the ouch parts, plus I couldn’t be that vain. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/33 "2006-02-28T01:36:02Z")
Too permanent. I wouldn’t get a tattoo unless I was _absolutely_ sure that I’d stopped developing as a human being. I like tatts well enough, but I had my older brother as an example of how something that seems kick-ass when you’re twenty can seem embarrassing in a few short years. The only designs I ever seriously considered seemed relatively unique and “hip” (n a “nerd” kind of way) in the early nineties – but I’m glad that I never got 'em, because they’re already passe. I’m confident that my tastes and self-identity will change enough in the decades to come that I wouldn’t want to drag around a permanent testiment to their current incarnation on my skin – that sort of stuff is better kept in an album, or sommat. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/34 "2006-02-28T01:37:27Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > I wouldn’t want to drag around a permanent testiment to their current incarnation on my skin. Also, I fear spelling errors. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/35 "2006-02-28T01:42:17Z")
The wife wants one, part of rediscovering life after parenthood. I’m seriously considering getting one at the same time. I think it’s probably a lot like virginity: A biger deal before you cross the line. Both our planned designs have been months in the planning, so I doubt it’s anything we’d regret afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/36 "2006-02-28T01:48:16Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I just think that they are ugly. And common. Pretty much my response too when some friends suggested that we should all get one. I just think they’re gross. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/37 "2006-02-28T01:50:17Z")
I just have no interest in it. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/38 "2006-02-28T01:55:46Z")
What everybody else said, except for the pain thing. not that I have a high pain tolerance or anything, but I’m not particularly afraid of needles. I have my ears pierced three times each. Nowadays I only wear a small hoop in one hole in each one. And I have my nose pierced, for the cultural value. That’s it. I’m done. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/39 "2006-02-28T01:58:04Z")
I’m not bugged by needles and I think tattoos (can) look very nice. I just know myself well enough to kow that just about anything I think is cool or clever now is going to seem pointless, ridiculous or just embarrassing in five years. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394/40 "2006-02-28T02:01:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The answer to “Why not?” is “Why?” Pretty much my answer. I think tattoos look fine, even great, on some people. I think I’m not the kind of person it’d look good on; rather, it’d scream “trying way too hard to be hip.” I’m also a major wuss about pain. I can’t even be bothered to keep my hair dyed often enough to avoid roots showing, or to apply sunscreen as often as I should even though I’ve had a precancerous growth removed from my skin (note that I don’t go out in the sun intentionally, but I am outside about 20 minutes a day while on my commute), so a tattoo would end up being a very expensive and soon ugly and faded money sink for me. Plus I just don’t care for any kind of physical adornment on my body. I still regret getting my ears pierced when I was a teenager - and the unused holes still haven’t grown shut, for that matter, plus one regularly gets infected. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-inked-dopers-why-not/346394.md?page=3)