Oh sure !!!!!!!! ( she said kiddingly)
I'd have this put right across my entire backside:

They rang for dinner,
I was never late,
I used to be thinner...
I AM WHAT I ATE !!!

Not any kind of tattoo for me! They fade and stretch on aging skin as I have seen on others who had this done.
There is an advert for Scanpan on TV showing an older woman with a tattoo banding her sagging upper arm which serves as a warning about making poor choices!

I have three, would love to have more. Two are on my back and I cannot see them, the third is very, very small, on my wrist and covered by my watch. I wouldn't be too comfortable having one that couldn't be easily covered. I don't think I would ever get words, though. Can't rule anything out!

I have one - a small lizard creature climbing up on my back. This is because a really good friend would call me LIZard....

I would like to have another, but TBH, it hurt way too much to go that again.

Words - I think it's a great idea, but I'd be very careful about which words to choose. Something great at 19 might not be so great at 49..!

This is a very interesting thought (and a fascinating link!). I don't have any tattoos, nor do I plan on having any, having reached the age of impending sagging :). However, if I were to have one, a literary one would probably be what I might choose. For the longest time the only thing I could imagine having inked forever on my body would be the names of my children, but now that you mention things literary ... hmmm.

I read an interesting post by Neil Gaiman on his blog, describing how he felt when he saw some of his words tattooed on a stranger he passed on the street. He said it made him feel invisible -- which I thought was interesting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Neil Gaiman blog

Being a tattooed person, and having talked with many other tattooed people, you don't need to worry too much about certain things - your tattoos represent where you were in your life in a particular time, and even if they become dated, they don't really bother you. They become part of your body, and if they sag or stretch or fade, well, so does most everything. Also, they can be touched up, turned into other things.

Having said that, I would definitely avoid getting the name of a paramour on my person - way too risky. Anything other than "Mother" IMHO is too transient. Even your kids, who might decide they want to be called "Rainbow Sunshine" or some such. Although they will always be your little Jenny or (insert name), it might bother THEM that you have "John-John" on your wrist.

And I have always thought one could make a mint by developing a tattoo ink that could be destroyed by exposure to black light or something similar - something painless and scar-free. Doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. Or that just fades naturally to nothing over the years.

Gaiman has a great blog, the only one I have maintained an interest in over time. He is just a really great writer.

I have been thinking about getting a tattoo for about a year now. As a martial artist, a yin-yang symbol was my first choice. But as a reader, I may have to get a book with a yin-yang on the cover!

Thanks for sharing!
PAM

I think I come from an age when tattoos were seen as the preserve of sailors/the military; definitely part of a male only world. So good luck to the girls brave enough to go through with it.
Siobhan and Liz the pain would have put me off . . . plus the cowardly thought of what my parents would have said. ;-)
Btw, our coalman used to have a tattoo of a naked woman down his forearm and when he flexed his muscles she appeared to 'wriggle' her curves. As children we were fascinated.

Vee -

You are so right about the pain of having a tattoo, for me at least. Right after getting my tattoo done (frequently interrupted process due to my sobbing since it hurt so much), I went into shock. So it's doubtful that I will get another one.

And yes, my father would have had a heart attack if I had had it done when he was alive... I had to wait until he had died before I could even consider it...

I actually had mine done when I had just recovered from pancreatic cancer surgery (big tough op) and had spent the first half of the year wondering whether I was going to live until Christmas. (The survivor stats for PC are horrendous.) So when I realized I was going to be ok, I asked myself what I was waiting for, realized that Dad had gone, and so I went ahead and did it. Happy I did, but probably won't get another one due to my ridiculously low pain threshold. I am a fully-blown wimp when it comes to that.

I got my first tat at age 41 or so - oddly my mother was the most supportive of everyone in my family. My sainted grandfather had three - reminders of his sailor days - and my mom had always wanted one. For her generation, it was almost unthinkable.

The pain can be bad, but certain places are much more painful than others - the very popular for girls lower back is one of the most painful places, all those nerve endings. One on the shoulder blade, however, is generally just annoying. Very thick skin, not so many nerves. Of course this varies from person to person. I found it painful but not unbearable.

This literary tattoo thing is looking better to me....hmmmm....

Tattoos on aging skin. I think not.

I have never been a fan of tattoos, with a few exceptions - one local Aboriginal footballer had a tribal image on his arm, and it was very good, and some of the celtic or maori style armbands look OK.
However, I love some of those literary quotes!

PS I'm in sagging territory too.

I can understand having a tatt where it can be seen but on the back or base of the spine as a relative has? What is the point? Naturally, I did not make a comment to her! But then, I mostly buy cheap earrings as I cannot see them! I only indulge myself if they are part of a set.

I've considered getting a tattoo. I want it to be a book, and it will need to be in a place where I have control over whether others can see it or not. Possibly upper arm or ankle. Another design I would consider is Viking knotwork. If I were to get words inked into my skin, it would have to be something from the Havamal.

Here is a link that might be useful: Havamal

I recall that years ago there was a suggestion for people to get their blood group tattooed in the crook of an arm in case of accidents. I never got this done although it was a sensible idea. Probably because I shy away from needles!
I noticed today in a specialty shop, arm-covers, kind of a thin glove worn from wrist to elbow, with tattoo-like patterns on them. Now there is an idea. Try before you get it done and see if you like the effect....

Well ann, it is hard to explain, but it is precisely because I can't see it that I like having the artwork on my back. Neither can I see my own face, but I still like having it. The artwork is a private, personal thing that I can display or not - emphasis on not.

Netla, that is a wonderful idea. Now that I am thinking of it, a poetry tattoo is sounding better and better. I would also give consideration to my favorite words from the Bible, Matthew 7:7 'Ask, and it will be given you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.' Although that is a bit long, I am not a big person!

Siobhan, I take your point, if we only adorned parts of our bodies we could see without the aid of a mirror, there would be no need for 'back interest' on clothes!
Other than having the complete text running up and down your arms, wouldn't the reference Matt.7:7 be sufficient?
Probably less expensive and easier to have done,too :-)

Or Matt. 7:7, Ask, Seek, Knock (or ASK)?

Or....."Ready when you are !"...GOD

No tattoos for me, I am too prejudiced still and it was reinforced when I saw too many older British women in Gambia with chainlink tattoos on their upper arms. My son knew this when he and a couple of friends had tattoos made on a Spanish holiday. The boys were all born in the Chinese year of the tiger and had large multicoloured tigers tattooed on their backs. My son's tiger is below the belt because he told the tattooist his mother wouldn't like it. The boys were probably drunk so I am glad my influence reached as far as Spain all the same.

I'm too much of a coward - always was. And in any case, there is the "ageing" bit - what is appropriate at twenty is almost always not appropriate at fifty.

At twenty, I'd have probably quoted some "deep and meaningful" line from a rock song. Imagine how embarrassing it would be now to have a tattoo saying "It's just a spring-clean for the May Queen".

Final argument against - I've just seen my brother-in-law spend a small fortune on laser treatment to get rid of tattoos he had installed when he was young....

sheriz 6 -

Thanks for the Neil Gaiman blog. He's written one of the few sci-fi books I've ever read -- sorry don't remember title -- something like "Evermore"?? . . . it all takes place on the London Underground (subway) system.

Neverwhere.

It's excellent. I think I'd call it fantasy, not sci-fi, but that's just me being picky.

Yes, Martin, that's the title. And I think you're right -- it IS fantasy, not sci-fi. It "felt" not-quite-right when I typed "sci-fi" in my post -- just couldn't think of the word "fantasy".

BTW -- You were missed lately ... We wondered what had happened to you -- nice to have you back.

I'm with Martin, too much of a coward. Plus, when my mother was very ill in the last year of her life and seeing specialists, such as infectious disease specialists, they always asked if she'd ever had a tattoo!?! Of course she hadn't.

My son has shark jaws tattooed on his bicep. That's the last tattoo he got for some reason -- maybe pain.