# WHY do people go and cover themselves in tattoo's? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 26, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163 "2012-11-26T16:18:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/21 "2012-11-26T17:51:13Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > Because getting tattoos is addictive. It’s not even so much that. When I got my tattoo, I remember feeling a faint urge to get another. Why? I got mine in one of the supposedly most sensitive places - inner wrist. It hurt, but not as much as I thought - getting laser and electrolysis treatment hurt far more. It was more of an aversion. So I was like…that’s it? That’s no big deal. And it looked just so pretty. I have faintly tan skin, the place where the tattoo is is the lightest skin on my body, and the copper tattoo fairly glows. It looks lovely. It sets off my wrist. You can just see the vein behind it. So I was all…ooo, pretty! It’s just not that big of a deal. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/22 "2012-11-26T18:02:06Z")
**Anaamika** , are you _covered_ in tattoos? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/23 "2012-11-26T18:03:06Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > **Anaamika** , are you _covered_ in tattoos? Yup, totally. IN MY HEAD. No, I’m just kidding, obviously. Should I not be responding? I guess I was just chit-chatting! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/24 "2012-11-26T18:21:24Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think we’d agree that a tattoo over acne won’t look very good. I wouldn’t automatically make that assumption. I’ve seen tattoos that incorporate flaws, such as scars, in a very artistic manner. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/25 "2012-11-26T18:24:54Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I wouldn’t automatically make that assumption. I’ve seen tattoos that incorporate flaws, such as scars, in a very artistic manner. That’s a little different from what I was thinking of (I meant bad skin), but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/26 "2012-11-26T18:25:03Z")
No no, **Anaamika** , I am in no way denigrating your opinion, but I think maybe you helped to illustrate my point, a tiny bit. > [@](#): > > When I got my tattoo, I remember feeling a faint urge to get another. Why? Cocaine is addictive, so is smoking, gambling, and a host of other things. Just because you aren’t addicted (ie covered in tattoos), doesn’t mean that other people aren’t. Whenever I see things taken to an extreme (covered in tattoos), addiction comes to mind. No opinion or judgement from me on right/wrong or good/bad, here. It’s your body, do what you want, is how I see it. I have 3 decent-sized tattoos, got them within the span of 2 years over 20 years ago. At the time (late '80s), tattoos were just beginning to lose their stigma, becoming more commonplace among college-age youth. I have _often thought of getting another tattoo_, although I really _don’t want_ another tattoo. I enjoyed the pain of getting them, I like how they look, and they have meaning for me, beyond just “looks”, or “(body)art”. But I feel as though there is an \*addictive element \*at work on me. To go to the extreme as some do, shows me that they enjoy the _experience_ of getting the tattoo, and the meaning of each (if any) is drowned among a sea of ink. Even any beauty of an individual piece is rendered less, due to having so damned many, all fighting for attention. So I sort of discount the beauty factor, when I see people with a full sleeve, or other large areas covered by multiple tattoos. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/27 "2012-11-26T18:27:13Z")
> [@Crab007](#): > > This is something I’ve never understood. It’s the kind of thing that, if we had to explain it to you, you’d still never get it. I don’t have any tattoos, but I might get one, maybe for my 55th or 60th birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/28 "2012-11-26T18:27:28Z")
Actually I pretty much agree with you. I can understand how getting tattoos can be addictive, and I can also understand how someone who has a bunch but each one has a meaning might not be addicted. ---
**Author:** ![Modern\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@Modern\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Modern_Master)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/29 "2012-11-26T18:28:40Z")
Because alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/30 "2012-11-26T18:32:18Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Actually I pretty much agree with you. I can understand how getting tattoos can be addictive, and I can also understand how someone who has a bunch but each one has a meaning might not be addicted. This seems like metaphorical use of the term addiction rather than a real addiction. But in context it might be hard to tell. > [@Modern\_Master](#): > > Because alcohol. Because every time I see someone covered with a lot of intricate tattoos that took a long time to design and apply, I think the whole thing happened because the person was drunk. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/31 "2012-11-26T18:34:15Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Why do you jam an apostrophe in “tattoos?” Maybe he thinks apostrophes are cool. Maybe he thinks an apostrophe is a sign that means _here comes an “s!”_ ETA: “mountain of lasagna.” heh, heh, heh. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/32 "2012-11-26T18:36:31Z")
nvm ---
**Author:** ![Modern\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@Modern\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Modern_Master)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/33 "2012-11-26T18:37:08Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Because every time I see someone covered with a lot of intricate tattoos that took a long time to design and apply, I think the whole thing happened because the person was drunk. I didn’t say that. All I said was alcohol. 😛 Does alcohol equal drunk now? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/34 "2012-11-26T18:47:37Z")
> [@Modern\_Master](#): > > Because alcohol. That’s always been my favorite joke about tattoos, but I’m being forced to give it up. Among the photographs hanging on the wall in my dad’s house is one of my late mother, taken when she was about four or five years old (c. 1937). My youngest sister has now had that reproduced on her left calf. It’s really quite lovely. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/35 "2012-11-26T19:17:24Z")
People have been decorating themselves since we figured out basket-weaving. Some of temporary (jewelry), some of it semi-permanent (henna, ear/body piercings), some of it permanent (tattoos, scarification). Some of it was/is deeply significant, some of it is decorative. I’m sure there are people out there who think I’d look better with short hair. I might think you look better with long hair. Or maybe I think the color of your shirt does not flatter you at all. Thing is, why on earth pick just one of the myriad ways we have of decorating ourselves and declare that it should be properly off-limits for everyone? I could say that no one should ever wear teal pants. But it’s a bit ridiculous for me to go around policing people and the color of their pants when it doesn’t really affect me and I have better things to do with my time. Also, I acknowledge that some people actually like teal, even though it’s a really ugly color. 😛 It’s just decoration. It’s not that big a deal. You don’t like it, don’t look. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/36 "2012-11-26T19:22:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’s a little different from what I was thinking of (I meant bad skin), but I could be wrong. Well, I have vitiligo on my hands which I protect by wearing kayaking gloves when I kayak or am outdoors. My knees are also affected. A few years ago I had my knees tattooed, basically a Caucasian flesh color. It helps protect them from burning, but was some of the most painful time I’ve spent getting inked. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/37 "2012-11-26T19:24:02Z")
Personally, I don’t like tatoos either. But whatever other people choose to do is no business of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/38 "2012-11-26T19:32:11Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > So I sort of discount the beauty factor, when I see people with a full sleeve, or other large areas covered by multiple tattoos. Setting aside the addiction issue (which I’m sure happens in some cases, but not all), I disagree with this. A full sleeve (or full back piece, or other large piece) doesn’t have to be a mess. I’ve seen many that were well-planned works of art. I mean, it would sort of be like saying _A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte_ is not art because it’s so big (2x3 meters) – when in fact I’d argue that it works as art in part _because_ it’s big. Certainly there are big paintings and big tattoos that are not very artistic, but it’s not the size or the fact that it’s a full sleeve/full back/whatever that’s the determining factor, here. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/39 "2012-11-26T19:37:38Z")
> [@Crab007](#): > > But how can any tattoo ever possibly be better than actual clear healthy skin? > > To me, clear healthy skin is… You mentioned it twice in your OP, so I’m going to call you on this one. You want a nice cool headed debate, so lets get some facts in here. Why do you think tattooed skin isn’t healthy? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163/40 "2012-11-26T19:38:06Z")
I have yet to see a highly paid professional physician, lawyer, accountant, dentist etc. who was covered in tattoos. It could be that those who cover themselves in tattoos have no ambition in these areas, or it could be the reverse - no one would hire you for those positions if you’re covered in tattoos. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-go-and-cover-themselves-in-tattoos/642163.md?page=3)