The London Lounge

I think that skin tattoos are ghastly. However, not everyone will agree and some surprising people have had them: George V and his elder brother the Duke of Clarence (from a naval tour of the far east); Winston Churchill (an anchor on his arm) and Ray Milland - a snake coiled around a skull on his upper arm. What views do members of the LL have on tattoos: to me they are redolent of beery, state benefit scroungers in depressed seaside towns...
NJS

I think that they are only permissible if earned while in the services.

I know that they can have a place as marks of identification but I am not sure what you mean by 'earned' in the services?
NJS

storeynicholas wrote:I know that they can have a place as marks of identification but I am not sure what you mean by 'earned' in the services?
NJS

I don't mean necessarily as part of some sort of esoteric ceremony, but rather that they have some significance or association attached to them, as opposed to the "I've-always-wanted-a-huge-tiger-on-my-back" or "I got drunk and woke up with it" situations.

Fair enough - although I am not sure whether even those acquired in the services often have that much significance to the actual service and possibly servicemen sometimes have been victims of the 'I woke up with a great tiger across my back or spider across my leg' phenomenon.

I totally agree Nicholas. During his RN days, my father tells me that he had to particularly protest in order to avoid getting a tatoo!

storeynicholas wrote:I think that skin tattoos are ghastly. . . .

+1.

I will, however, except those removable tattoos that many of us remember from childhood: just be certain to use soap and water well before bedtime!

My uncle is fairly heavily tattooed and i never saw anything wrong with it and making social stereotypes to go with tattoos is just narrow minded he is a hard working man and a great father to his children his tattoos have meaning for him simple as that and i can understand it. I think the essence of a gentleman is acceptance of all walks of life, my father once attended a party at the British embassy in the Netherlands and the ambassador was as upper class as they come but he never regarded himself superior to anyone be they aristocracy or bin man. and i think it is a duty of any real gentleman to live by that example.

I have told this story, told to me a long time ago, somwhere hereabouts, before, but it has some resonance just here and now. When he was Lord Chancellor, Lord Gardiner attended a law students' reception and joined a conversation between a student and Lord Gardiner's own son. The other student asked Lord Gardiner what he did for a living and Lord Gardiner pointed at his own son and just said: "Oh, I'm in the law, like him." This is what you (and anyone blessed with any sensibility) would hope that he said. No one in the LL, I am sure, would seek to judge, to belittle or to ignore anyone because they have tattoos, the point of the thread was to see whether members would choose to have them. I think that is fair enough, isn't it?
NJS

it is and i knew i was getting slightly off topic but i just remembered the story and had to tell it i suppose personally i would maybe have a tattoo it is all to do with meaning in my book.

Tattoos are, so far as I know, in various cultures, about identification and, maybe remembrance too and, therefore, are full of meaning. How those who do not like them very much deal (or, more precisely), don't deal with their existence, is a matter of manners.
NJS

culturally yes they are full of meaning and i agree entirely about the matter of manners. but i admit i feel a slight disdain towards those who have a "i had money and i like dragons" attitude, they detract from the artistry shown by some tattoo artists such as Kat Von D.

I am sure that you are right.
NJS

Personally, I've never liked tattoos. ome of the inks used are the same pigments that can be found in car paint. Unfortunately, not enough people seem to be aware that tattoos have certain risks.

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-204.html

I have only admiration for any man who would get a tattoo. Most tattoos last longer than most marriages, and what, on this earth, could be more honorable, or a more poingnent example of man's superiority to the beasts, than making lifelong commitment and living up to it? I'm speaking of tattoos, of course, not marriages.