# What might these tattoos mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738 "2009-11-16T03:38:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/1 "2009-11-16T03:38:33Z")
In the gym I saw a guy with a tattoo on each shoulder On the left shoulder was a dot with rectangles radiating left, right, and top, and another dot underneath. Kind of like a plus sign with a dot at center and with the lower arm replaced by a dot. On the right shoulder was a gear with five spokes and superimposed on the spokes was a red, five-pointed star. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/2 "2009-11-16T03:53:00Z")
Any chance the image on the left shoulder was the [Blue Oyster Cult logo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hook-and-cross_white.svg)? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/3 "2009-11-16T04:04:08Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Any chance the image on the left shoulder was the [Blue Oyster Cult logo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hook-and-cross_white.svg)? Close, but instead of the hook on the bottom, there was another dot. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/4 "2009-11-16T18:48:29Z")
Why not just walk up to the guy and ask him? Probably get a better answer than on here. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/5 "2009-11-16T19:20:04Z")
> [@Wilbo523](#): > > Why not just walk up to the guy and ask him? Probably get a better answer than on here. They are meant to scare and intimidate people. Looks like they worked. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/6 "2009-11-16T23:47:52Z")
Dude looks like Timothy McVey. I’m not going to purposely bring myself to his attention until I’m sure he’s not displaying some kind of Aryan Nation crap on his body. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/7 "2009-11-17T14:59:49Z")
Timothy McVeigh did not have an intimidating appearance. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/McVeigh_mugshot.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/McVeigh_mugshot.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Time\_Stranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Time\_Stranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Stranger)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/8 "2009-11-17T15:08:41Z")
The red star over the cogwheel might be some kind of communist symbolism (see: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist\_symbolism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_symbolism)). I have no clue about the plus sign with dots, though. ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/9 "2009-11-17T16:21:20Z")
I would like to know too. My first thought was the symbol for the consulate general of Italy, but I tend to think that isn’t it. [http://galilei2d.altervista.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/repubblica\_italiana\_emblema\_logo.jpg](http://galilei2d.altervista.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/repubblica_italiana_emblema_logo.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/10 "2009-11-18T03:14:00Z")
> [@Wilbo523](#): > > Timothy McVeigh did not have an intimidating appearance. That’s how they get ya. ---
**Author:** ![\_cc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/e19b73/32.png) [@\_cc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_cc)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/11 "2009-11-18T12:00:38Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Dude looks like Timothy McVey. I’m not going to purposely bring myself to his attention until I’m sure he’s not displaying some kind of Aryan Nation crap on his body. Racism is still racism if the guy is the same color as you. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/12 "2009-11-23T01:39:02Z")
Are you suggesting these tattoos are symbols of some kind of white-against-white racism? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2017, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/13 "2017-08-21T12:42:27Z")
Now that white supremacy, Nazism, and related ideologies are out in the open, I’m wondering if it’s possible for what I saw to be identified. I certainly hope that there aren’t open white supremacists at my gym, but since [that’s a thing now](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-white-nationalist-gym-membership-revoked-20170521-story.html), I’d like to be sure in case I run into these symbols again. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/14 "2017-08-21T14:22:29Z")
The red star is still more heavily linked to communism/socialism than any other ideology. ADL has a list of hate group symbols you can dig through [https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols](https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols) ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/15 "2017-08-21T15:03:09Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Now that white supremacy, Nazism, and related ideologies are out in the open, I’m wondering if it’s possible for what I saw to be identified. I certainly hope that there aren’t open white supremacists at my gym, but since [that’s a thing now](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-white-nationalist-gym-membership-revoked-20170521-story.html), I’d like to be sure in case I run into these symbols again. Wait, you’re asking if someone is a Nazi simply because they have a 5-pointed star tattoo and some rectangles? Maybe the 5-pointed star (pentagram) just means that they worship Satan. Either way, you should barricade yourself inside the house and avoid the outside world at all costs. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/16 "2017-08-21T15:23:02Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Now that white supremacy, Nazism, and related ideologies are out in the open… They have been out in the open for a long time. They’re just more in the news lately. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/17 "2017-08-21T16:45:17Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > On the left shoulder was a dot with rectangles radiating left, right, and top, and another dot underneath. Kind of like a plus sign with a dot at center and with the lower arm replaced by a dot. That could possibly be the letters K D in Morse code, written crossword style. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/18 "2017-08-21T22:55:53Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > Wait, you’re asking if someone is a Nazi simply because they have a 5-pointed star tattoo and some rectangles? I’m asking if anyone knows what they represent, because they aren’t easily recognizable, because they are very prominently displayed, and because they frankly look sinister. I’m sure anyone who wears tattoos that other people can see have given thought to what they want other people to think when they see them. It’s not like buying a shirt with a designer’s logo on it or a design that’s clearly just ornamental. > [@](#): > > Maybe the 5-pointed star (pentagram) just means that they worship Satan. It wasn’t a pentagram, nor any other Satanic symbol that I recognized. > [@](#): > > Either way, you should barricade yourself inside the house and avoid the outside world at all costs. I don’t know why the undercurrent of mockery here. So far as I can tell, people who display prominent tattoos of icons or symbols on their bodies do so because they have strong feelings about what they represent. These aren’t ones that I recognized, and there was something about their appearance that looked sinister. There are many symbols that are easily understood by the general public. If you want to display a tattoo and wish it to be easily understood, you can easily choose one whose meaning is widely known. If not, I see no reason to offer the benefit of the doubt. They weren’t just pretty drawings. They were symbols of something. There’s no reason for me to assume that they represent something benign, especially regarding the history of tattoos and prison gangs and bulked up guys in the gym. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-might-these-tattoos-mean/517738/19 "2017-08-22T15:00:11Z")
One logo used by Combat 18 is a plus sign with dots at each point, but it would be surprising to see it in the US. > [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Timothy McVeigh did not have an intimidating appearance. > > [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/McVeigh\_mugshot.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/McVeigh_mugshot.jpg) Anyone can look intimidating driving a truck bomb. > [@'\[cc](#): > > ;11791604’]Racism is still racism if the guy is the same color as you. **Ascenray** is of South Asian origin.