August 15, 2010

Shawn Marion's Botched Tattoo: A New York Times piece on poorly translated Hanzi-kanji tattoos reveals that Shawn Marion's leg doesn't read "The Matrix," which is his nickname. The real meaning, according to bad-tattoo blogger Tian Tang: "demon bird moth balls."

posted by rcade to basketball at 11:54 AM - 9 comments

demon bird moth balls: Awesome band name though.

posted by justgary at 05:25 PM on August 15, 2010

"demon bird moth balls" is much cooler than "the matrix" any day.

posted by NoMich at 07:29 PM on August 15, 2010

demon | bird

moth | balls

All we need to do is define the x and y axes.

posted by bobfoot at 12:32 AM on August 16, 2010

Are we talkin' moth balls like moth-balls, or moth balls like moth balls?

posted by outonleave at 06:10 AM on August 16, 2010

I've never understood people wanting to get kanji tattoos. Leaving aside the rather large chance that the tattoo artist will get it wrong, and the fact that tattoos aren't exactly considered respectable in Japanese society, if you want to say something, why not just say it in a language that the people around you can read?

posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:12 AM on August 16, 2010

Oh, Shawn Marion Wanted to brand The Matrix Now named Bird Testes

posted by The_Black_Hand at 09:53 AM on August 16, 2010

if you want to say something, why not just say it in a language that the people around you can read?

And a language that you yourself can read. Nice tat there, mothballs.

posted by mjkredliner at 11:09 AM on August 16, 2010

Canadian baller Rob Sacre has a Mike Tyson tattoo. Guess that means "ferociousness" and "animalness" in any language.

posted by Spitztengle at 11:23 AM on August 16, 2010

Naw, not in my language.

posted by mjkredliner at 05:48 PM on August 16, 2010

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