I love a good misunderstanding, especially when it comes to other people’s tattoos. I mean, I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings when it comes to my tattoos, but when it comes to someone else, I don’t have any problems enjoying the zaniness of a tattoo mistake.
For example. Anyone who grew up watching the sitcom “Roseanne” will be familiar with Roseanne’s real life ex-husband Tom Arnold. Tom seems like a pretty funny, good natured guy and he played a good sleezeball in that James Cameron film, True Lies. Anyway, Tom Arnold recently got re-married to a woman. I emphasize that he got married to a woman because despite what Tom Arnold’s tattoo may say, he isn’t gay.
Okay, now I know that I’ve got you confused and I’m sorry about that. Allow me to set things straight. You see, back in 1989 after the Chinese government massacred students at Tianamen Square over the student’s demand for a free and just society, Tom Arnold was moved. He saw this display of state brutality against men and women whose only crime was wanting to be free and he went out and got a tattoo on his leg of the Chinese characters that he was told translated to “Love of Mankind”. Tom was happy with this tattoo and nothing seemed to be wrong with it.
But there was something wrong with the tattoo, namely that what Arnold thought the tattoo said and what it actually said were two very different things. It wasn’t until this past November while Arnold was on his Honeymoon in China that he found out what the tattoo really said. While getting ready to be interviewed on Chinese television, Tom mentioned that he had a tattoo that said “Love of Mankind” which he had received after the Tianamen Square massacre. As Tom showed the tattoo around, he was not only told not to mention Tianamen Square on television, but also that his “Love for Mankind” tattoo actually read “Man Love”.
That’s the sort of misunderstanding that I’m talking about. That is just classic.