Tattoo of dots - what does it mean?

Factual Questions
1

I’ve always been fascinated why people have 4 individual dots tattoed on their
four fingers just above the knuckle in the place where sometimes others have
“love” and “hate” written there.

Hopefully the diagram below (not very good) shows what I mean.

If anybody can explain this I would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Wiggler
Fig 1
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| * | | * | | * | | * |
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2

IIRC it originally had something to do with how many times you’d been in prison: i.e. - sort of a status symbol amongst the n’er-do-wells.

3

Are the faded and not very sharp? Alot of people end up with cheapo tattoo’s when they find out the can do it themselves with india ink and a needle. I saw plenty of high school kids with dots, little smiley faces, crosses, thier names all done by themselves or a friend.

4

They do tend to be faded and not sharp - I’ve always tended to think that it was a form of saying you are in a gang.

5

The 4 dots mean a.c.a.b all cops are bastards it’s used in the UK and means you would go down for your gang or crew

6

It sometimes helps with ASCII diagrams to put them in a code block like this:



             Fig 1
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| - | | - | | - | | - |
|   | |   | |   | |   |
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| * | | * | | * | | * |
|   | |   | |   | |   |
7

Or link to a photo…

8

or check the date on the OP…

9

Yeah, although I can see why it might not always be easy to snap a photo of the prison tats on someone’s knuckles.

I missed that. :smack:

10

Not necessarily on the knuckles, but I know several people with small dots tattooed on various parts of the body.

They are cancer patients with the location spots for radiation treatment tattooed, so that the radiologist can easily locate the spots.

11

I have a small blue dot on the underside of my wrist because of Carl Sagan.

12

According to Terry Pratchett, it’s not a proper tattoo if you can remember how you got it, but I’d love to hear more about your adventures with Carl…

13

This might be a whoosh, but this should explain.