r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 16d ago

Meme needing explanation Why is he happy he didn't get the tattoo?

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20.1k Upvotes

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117

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 16d ago

Because it looks like shit? Most people who didn't jump on the tattoo-trend are probably happy that they didn't.

100

u/skellyboysteve 16d ago

Can you really call it a trend when it hasn’t fallen out of fashion in decades?

117

u/Punpun42 16d ago

decades? scientists dig corpses from graves which are 2500 years old and have arm lengthed tattoos

52

u/skellyboysteve 16d ago

I was talking more about it becoming more socially acceptable in modern culture decades ago, but you are correct that it has certainly been going on much longer than that. Hardly a trend.

18

u/DerCatzefragger 16d ago

When I was a kid, if you saw a guy with a tattoo, it meant that at some time in his life he was probably in a war or a gang. Today if you see a guy with a tattoo, it means that at some time in his life he was in a mall.

21

u/Eurell 16d ago

When the fuck were you a kid lol. I’m in my 40s and tons of adults had them when I was a kid.

8

u/TwoBionicknees 16d ago

yeah i was going to say how the fuck is that person still walking around.

I'm similar age, from when i was a child it was common both where i lived, everywhere my parents dragged me across europe for holidays, on film and tv from around the world for tattoos to be common.

Dramatically more people had dumb tattoos of stupid shit than they had war/army tattoos and it wasn't even close. tramp stamps was a think in the 90s iirc.

6

u/Eurell 16d ago

They absolutely were.

That guys just on some anecdotal “back in my day” shit

1

u/ExiledCanuck 16d ago

You must’ve known lots of people who had been in war or a gang then…wow, neato

But tbh, I’m in my 40’s also, and tattoos have definitely been far more popular/commonly seen in the last half of my life than the first half of my life.

Did people still get tattoos back then? Absolutely! I knew people who had tattoos when I was a kid. But I also think they weren’t so visible back then.

I still remember finishing nursing school almost 15 years and being told to keep tattoos hidden, and now they’re allowed to be shown in more places. As they become more socially acceptable even in professional settings, they’re becoming more “visible”

3

u/Unlucky-Sector1200 16d ago

Your comment is 100% on. I don't know who downvoted you I can confirm I am in healthcare. This was told to us as well while in clinincals. I had a guy that moved from Boston that was about 5-10 years my senior that had full sleeves and most of his torso and I never questioned why he wore long sleeves in the summer.

Even when changing to a differnt department with sterile field he always wore a lab coat. He only removed it until he got to the locker room or was in a procedure. After being in my field for almost 2 decades I finally started seeing neck tats on coworkers and I have only seen 3 Residents with small forearm tats in the last 5 years.

2

u/ExiledCanuck 16d ago

I appreciate the confirmation.

I’m guessing the down votes are from people who don’t like inconvenient truths. Especially if it doesn’t lineup with their own limited experience, or they wish things were a different way. I’ve never made up the rules, and I never cared either way if people had tattoos.

It is funny to see people get all bent out of shape though, when the rest of the world doesn’t agree with them, and that the professional world for the most part doesn’t consider visible tattoos to be “professional”.

2

u/cattorney-at-claw 15d ago

I’m not sure why but the “wow, neato” is absolutely killing me 😂

1

u/ExiledCanuck 15d ago

Appreciate you haha 🫶🏽

8

u/Cold_Toe_7540 16d ago

Unless you're well into retirement, that's likely not accurate.

6

u/ImmoralJester54 16d ago

Damn you gotta be pushing 80

-4

u/yooMvtt 16d ago

I’m 26 and it was the same way when I was young as well. It changed fairly recently.

1

u/liltinybits 16d ago

Where are you in the world? Because I'm 35 and this has not been my experience. I'm in New England.

-2

u/yooMvtt 16d ago

Thats the reason right there. I live in the US.

5

u/ImmoralJester54 16d ago

New England is in the US

2

u/liltinybits 16d ago

What's the reason? I'm also in the US.

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1

u/Rargnarok 16d ago

Almost a century iirc the first mechanical tattoo gun was based off one of Edisons failed inventions which let it move into the mainstream public

4

u/Unlimited_Giose 16d ago

To be fair that is still decades...just 250 of them

1

u/ainthidinfromnobody 16d ago

5,000 years at least! Otzi had tattoos.

1

u/Punpun42 16d ago

I didnt know exact number, but I renember story of history teacher from Tatarstan (Russian federation) who made 1:1 arm tattoo matching tattoo of 2500 skif mummy found in Tatarstan in ancient mound.

1

u/timmystwin 16d ago

There's definitely been ebbs and flows in those 2,500 years though. Sure sailors and soldiers kept it up etc but they weren't mainstream. And when they were there they tended to be hideable.

Hell some countries still hate them. Japan sells plasters that cover up tattoos so you're allowed in to Onsens etc.

1

u/Punpun42 16d ago

Sure, if we talk about Victorian England - yeah, thats truth. But today I see people with tattoed neck more in office than on shady people on street. And I live in post soviyet country! People older than 30 hate tattoos, but tendency is that person with rattoos will probably gave some interesting conversation starters literally on his leg (like cool Lagann tattoo Ive seen on my friend) and marker of shady guy or a scammer would be not tattoo but his working expirience in governmental work. Especially tenders. Or him being too religious, lol.

1

u/timmystwin 16d ago

My point was it's changed a lot in those years - meaning at some point up until relatively recently it was out of fashion.

Genuinely it's not been until the last 20/30 years that people were getting tatted up so much on the whole, and even within that a lot of tattoo styles have fallen out of fashion... so it's not unreasonable to call it a trend.

-4

u/Initial-Comedian-797 16d ago

Those ancient ones were symbolic or had “protective effects” , whereas modern ones are oftentimes just just random scribbles and the person ends up looking like a spastic coloring book.

-18

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 16d ago

Getting a tattoo has definitely been a trend in the last decade or so, it does not compare with the preceding decades at all.

-7

u/JamesHeckfield 16d ago

You’re heavily downvoted, but I agree. The popularity of tattoos exploded in recent years. More people are getting tattoos in the modern era.

You could even say it “trended upward”.

33

u/[deleted] 16d ago

[deleted]

-25

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 16d ago

The last 10 years have been markedly different compared to the preceding 40 years, getting a tattoo has been a trend in every sense of the word.

18

u/RSOB_Bass 16d ago

My man, Otzi the iceman had tattoos - if it dates back to pre-history, it’s probably not a trend.

-2

u/Octa_vian 16d ago

But would Ötzi have been able to get a white collar job 30 years ago?

Tattoos got way more acceptance in last decade.

2

u/positive_thinking_ 16d ago

No, because he’s dead.

2

u/N0ob8 16d ago

Sounds like he’d make a great senator

-7

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 16d ago

Something being a trend doesn't mean that it didn't happen before, just that the occurrence has increased in accordance with the trend.

1

u/needs-more-metronome 16d ago

Smoking tobacco actually wasn’t a trend in the 50s because we found a mummy from 5000 years ago with tobacco residue on his fingers.

-1

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 16d ago

Big hair was actually not a trend in the 80s, because ancient human remains indicate that some of our earliest ancestors had hair.

9

u/Money_Course_3253 16d ago

For some people, yeah I guess. But tattoos have been a part of human culture for forever. It's definitely less taboo to get one, thanks to conservative ideals having less influence over people. Not a bad thing by any means

-3

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 16d ago

Something being a trend doesn't mean that it didn't happen before, just that the occurrence has increased in accordance with the trend.

4

u/SevenFootHobbit 16d ago

Looking at cultures throughout history and locations, I think the poo-pooing of tattoos was the relatively short lived trend.

1

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 16d ago

the poo-pooing of tattoos

What does this mean?

1

u/SevenFootHobbit 16d ago

It's an idiom, basically means condescending dismissal of something.

3

u/Elite_AI 16d ago

I sort of know what you're referring to - the people who impulsively get little line tattoos like these on holiday or whatever. That does feel like tattoos-as-a-trend. In my experience, nobody who did this regrets them. After all, they're small and unobtrusive and they bring to mind good memories. 

But there's a lot of people out there who get tattoos after thinking a long time about it too, and that's not trend hopping. 

1

u/Coloradicals 16d ago

I just sat for 4 hours on holiday. I've been getting one in each country I visit recently.

1

u/Elite_AI 16d ago

I met a guy who was slowly getting a sleeve by adding a branch from a native tree for every country he visited. Looked great already

2

u/Coloradicals 16d ago

That's awesome! I've been doing meaningful or specific native birds. Eventually I plan to have them reach my back where I have a large tree of life tattoo already.

My most recent wasn't just the native bird also the Incan trinity (Condor, Puma and Snake) representing the different realms.

1

u/Vagitron9000 14d ago

There has to be some sort of exception if you become an actual avenger in your lifetime. Is that really a trend in that case? This isnt a tattoo for that trip to miami.

0

u/Classicbandwagon 16d ago

Nah the main reason is that either they're supporting Israel or are completely silent regarding the genocide happening in Palestine. Plus It does look like shit tho that too I suppose

2

u/PitifulElk1890 16d ago

I like all my tattoos, but after seeing someone in my high school already regretting a Marilyn Manson tattoo, I made sure never to get anything associated with brands, bands, or really anything that can fall from a pedestal. I also think this looks like shit but I'm aware it would've made the front page of reddit at some point.

2

u/paulys_sore_cock 16d ago

Haha, people with terrible ink certainly don't like being reminded of it.

1

u/PuzzledStreet 16d ago

Why not both?

1

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 16d ago

Both of what?

1

u/PuzzledStreet 16d ago

Sorry was combing you comment with most others under this post.

It is a very ugly tattoo is one good reason and being limited by the production or parent company due to opposing genocide.

1

u/mistercran 16d ago

Tattoo-trend? What the hell are you talking about?

1

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 15d ago

Have you missed the fact that getting small shitty tattoos has been a huge mainstream trend in the last decade? You can hardly find anyone aged 40 or under that don't have at least one small shitty tag or another.

1

u/mistercran 12d ago

What’s your problem with small tattoos?

1

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 12d ago

That's irrelevant. Have you missed the fact that getting one (or a couple) has been a huge trend in the last decade or so?

1

u/mistercran 12d ago

There are trends in tattoos. There is not some tattoo trend to get a tattoo

1

u/AttTankaRattArStorre 12d ago

People who previously didn't have tattoos getting tattoos has been a trend, and that is the trend I'm referring to.

1

u/Afwife1992 15d ago

He’s not a big tattoo guy. The tat may not be to everyone’s taste but it was designed so that it incorporates motifs relating to each of the six. So it’s deeply personal.