To think it's rather odd when...

[ShowMeYourTARDIS]

People have tattoos in Hebrew? Judaism forbids tattoos. I met a woman on the bus who had her "Jewish name" tattooed on her chest.

Perhaps it's because I was raised Jewish and have a Hebrew name, but I think it's strange.

Just as strange as those bampot people who have Leviticus 18:22 tattoo'd upon themselves... conveniently ignoring Leviticus 19:28.

There's no accounting for some folk.

No, YANBU.

I think the Torah forbids any kind of "bodily mutilation". I'll confirm your correctness with another Jewish person!

And I've noticed most of these tattoos totally lack vowels...

I don't have anything against tattoos in general, and I'm considering one myself. The Lev 18:22 makes me laugh every single time.

Does the Jewish religion own Hebrew?

Doesn't every religious person, un-married couples, Gay people, those that have abortions, anyone who kills, even in the Army etc, pick the bits out that suit them?

Whilst ideally tattoos should mean something to the wearer, they can be chosen because they look pretty etc.

Ummm, yes, Birds, Im pretty sure Jews own Hebrew since it is their spoken language..

Wow that's a philosophically enormous statement.

How can you 'own' a language? If 'Jews' own it who had the final say when they disagree?
What about people who speak Hebrew but are not 'Jews' do they own it? Is ownership conferred by birth or by use? What about 'Jews who learnt Hebrew well enough for their bar mitzvah but haven't spoken it in 50 years?

If the person isn't Jewish but liked the look of their name in Hebrew then I don't see how it really matters. I really like how my name looks in Urdu, I'm sure she's doing it for how it looks to her and not in any relation to the language or religion.

I think it's weird to have your name written in a language you have no connection to. I love how Arabic looks, but I'd never get a tattoo in it. I just think it's odd.

Well that's what having tastes is all about. Each to their own. As long as she likes her tattoo :)

Same with stuff in Arabic. But Hebrew and Arabic are languages, not religions. If you are not Jewish, not Arab and a generally an all-round godless type then I can't imagine it matters much to you what other people think about it.

Hermit, that just makes me think of people who think they've had something really profound tatted in some language they don't know (but looks pretty, and, yanno, deep) and actually it translates as something like "prawns in sweet and sour sauce", or "This eejit thinks this is deep and profound"... How do you know what your name looks like in Urdu, Hebrew, or hieroglyphics? Does your name actually translate into any of those languages?

According to one search I just did, my name is derived from the Greek for "pure" (and I'm a long way from that, in any sense!), the same source says it's a boy's name.

OldLadyKnows Yes. I live in a mainly Muslim/Asian community in my town, and went to school at an all girls school which was also predominantly muslim/asian. And have grown up in that community. So knowing and writing some urdu is something I've been part of since I was little (now in my late 20s) And writing my name in urdu was the first thing I learnt. (It's actually what you would consider the masculine version of my name, as there are very few languages with a female version of my name!)

You really shouldn't generalise people like that. I don't have any tattoos, and probably wouldn't consider one, was just making the comparison that I like the way my name looks written in another language too.

Either way, The OP isn't unreasonable for finding it odd. But it's up to the person getting the tattoo whether they get an original art piece, pick something out of a book they like the look of, or end up with a completely different language on their body. As long as they like it, then it's all fair enough to me :)

I'm not too up my own arse to mock whether they think they are trying to be intelligent or not. It's not my concern. :)

Sorry, Hermit, I personalised that to you when I shouldn't have. Of course it's up to the tatted person what they have on their body, but in some cases a bit more research would be appropriate. I've seen my own name written in Ancient Greek, and it's a lot prettier than in English. But, like you, I have no pressing need to have my own name tatted on me, in any language.

I was chatting with DS (24yo) about this the other day. My grandfather, as a seafarer in the days before DNA testing, had tatts for the same reason other seafarers had tatts; to identify their rotting corpses should they be washed overboard and end up onshore somewhere. I suppose they'd serve the same purpose these days.

(Like many other seafarers of his generation, my grandfather refused to learn to swim, on the grounds that it would just prolong his agony. How things change.)

I heard of someone who had a 'deep' Chinese character tattoo which actually translated as 'dry clean only'