mispelled_tatoo.jpgYou’ve saved up your money. You’ve made up your mind. You make the
appointment. You show the tattoo artist a piece of paper with the words
you’d like tattooed written on it. They draw up the transfer and put it
on your skin. You look at the design and placement in the mirror and
sit down to have it inked. But then when you’re done and showing it off
to your friends, one of them points out there is a misspelling in one
of the words. Whose fault is that now: yours or the tattoo artists?

This is one of those debates that surfaces from time to time, and the
latest occurrence is due to an instance in Chicago. Jade Dragon Tattoo
has now been served with a second lawsuit in the last year and a half
over a misspelling in someone’s tattoo. In the first instance, a man
got a tattoo that read “CHI-TONW” instead of “CHI-TOWN.” In the most
recent case, a man wanting the phrase “Tomorrow Never Promised Today.
John P. R.I.P.” wound up with an extra “m” leaving him with the word
“tommorrow.”

The other cases you hear similar to this are when people get tattooed with Japanese kanji,
Chinese characters or some language not their native tongue and
something goes wrong. David Beckham’s Hindi tattoo of wife Victoria’s
name is purported to have an extra “h” in the spelling. Britney Spears
got a Hebrew tattoo on her neck as part of her Kabbalah fascination
that was supposed to read “new era” but the Hebrew letters were put in
the wrong order, leaving the tattoo reading as gibberish. (It’s since
been lasered off).

Clearly, it’s the sort of mistake that can happen to anyone, from the
common man to a world-famous celebrity. Even the word “tattoo” have been misspelled by many as “tatoo“, “tattos“, “tatoos“, or “tatto.” However, the debate over who is
responsible for such things is still up in the air. Tattoo artists
claim that they do exactly what is requested of them by the paying
client. The tattooed customers complain that for the high-price of
tattoos, a second opinion on the spelling should be included.

To save yourself some embarrassment and lawyer’s fees, take a few
simple steps before committing to ink. If you want to get a phrase
tattooed on you, take the time to look up any words you are unsure of
in a dictionary. For tattoos in a language that are not your own, have
someone who can speak, read and write the language fluently check the
translation and writing of the tattoo. Both of those things take only a
bit of time, and are so much easier than a lawsuit and less painful
than laser removal.