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11 Amazing Grammatical Errors in Tattoos

by Sam Greenspan
last updated March 16, 2018 · originally written August 10, 2012

There’s no grammar error like a permanent grammar error.

I’m not a tattoo guy. But if I ever decided to get a tattoo, I’m sure I’d double, triple and dodeca check it to make sure it was perfect. The people in this list… not so much.

Here are 11 tattoos with unbelievable grammar and usage errors. Be glad you went with barbed wire and/or a Chinese character you’re pretty sure means “happiness” but might mean “soup.”

1 | Life Go’s On

In her defense, if there’s ever a TV show called Life Go, this tattoo would become relevant for 30 minutes a week. (Way more if Life Go hits syndication.)

2 | What Don’t Kill Ya Makes Ya More Strong

The woman who decides to be his black Kate Moss tonight is going to have to really look past this monument to the destruction of English.

3 | What Didn’t Killed Me, Made Me Stronger!

The woman who decides to be HIS black Kate Moss tonight is probably going to be pretty tense.

…

…

…

Finally finished laughing? Moving on…

4 | Stop Been Grateful

What kills me about this is that they nailed the spelling of “grateful” — I mean, what were the odds of it coming out “greatful,” about 7-5? — then botched the spelling of “being.” Twice. And it may be the angle… but I think they also botched the spelling of “ain’t.”

5 | Better To Live For Today, Then Die For Tomorrow

Minus the resultant comma splice, this tattoo actually does make some sense — albeit not the message originally intended. As it stands, it’s a perfectly logical statement. It IS better to live today then die tomorrow. Pretty much impossible to do the reverse of that.

6 | You Only Life Once

That’s The Motto, [racial epithet], YOLO! (Almost).

7 | Help Me, Obi-Wan

I really appreciate this tattoo. Here’s why. I get messages regularly asking me about Star Trek, Star Wars, comic books, Doctor Who, Magic the Gathering and several other alt.nerd.obsessive persuasions. And I always explain that while there are certain areas where I’m a hardcore nerd (TV, English, pop culture, HTML, wearing glasses, etc.) that doesn’t necessarily mean I check every nerd box. I think this tattoo is perfect evidence of that. Because this guy was so into Star Wars that he was willing to devote a giant chunk of his body to it… but he’s clearly not a grammar nerd. This tattoo is the perfect embodiment of nerd diversity.

8 | Never Don’t Give Up

Not just grammatically incorrect but mathematically incorrect. Two negatives aren’t supposed to cancel out a positive.

9 | Music Are The Words

Four errors in seven words! (I think) we can chalk up the lowercase “i” and the missing apostrophe to stylistic choices. But “music are” is an accidental error. And, ya know, “speek” isn’t helping.

10 | Live Life To It’s Fullest

Of COURSE it’s Arizona State. (Although, since it’s not Ohio State, at least we know this guy paid to have that botched tattoo.)

11 | Your Next

If only the guy hunting Inigo Montoya had this tattoo. HE could’ve nailed the spelling properly.

—

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Filed Under: Society & People Tagged With: Grammar, Oops, Punctuation, Tattoos

About Sam Greenspan

Sam is a Midwest-born classically-trained journalist, now living and working in Los Angeles as a writer, author and entrepreneur. So basically, just a whole steaming jambalaya of stereotypes.

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