Bad Latin and Greek Tattoos for Every Type
Definitely DO NOT Get These Tattoos!
Disclaimer: DO NOT get these tattoos
There are very few certainties in Classics: a Classics PhD, hefty CV, and glowing letters of recommendation usually don’t translate into a permanent job in the field; and, if you do luck out, all the prestige and robust enrollments (lol) in the world won’t guarantee that your department is protected from administrative axing. Uncertainties aside, it is just a fact that 100% of the time you meet someone with a Greek or Latin tattoo, they will tell you about it. This is usually a delightful experience—disclosing one’s predilections for Greece and Rome can be an awkward experience, where one is met with confusion or has clearly given the impression of pretension—and tattoos are a great icebreaker. But every once in a while, this tattoo disclosure causes the most awkward situation a classicist can ever find herself in: the tattoo contains an error!
What are you even supposed to do with your face when you read something like “Carpe deum” on the forearm of that Dead Poets’ Society fan? What kind of nicety can you muster up in response to that sloppy Google Translate rendering of “You only live once” into Ancient Greek (“μεταφράζεις ότι ζεις μόνο μία φορά στην αρχαία ελληνική”)? I suggest that you cultivate…
