I can only imagine one circumstance where I'd get a tattoo: in the armed forces I'd get a tattoo of the  squad/division/whatever I belonged to.  That's serious business.

Is anything else as serious?

watch that reality show featuring a tattoo shop.  Kat is my favorite.  Anyway, people go in there for all kinds of reasons.

So far, on that show, they commemorate:

1. death of a loved one
2. extreme hobby (surfing, snowboarding, base jumping)
3. ended drug/alcohol/sex habit
4.  birth of a child

But most of them are just tacky "art" opportunities, such as half-naked women/mermaids, Japanese/Chinese lettering, macho shit.

5.  "I almost died in <car crash/airplane/fire>"

People really get #5?

i saw a 9-11 tatoo earlier this week

http://paulinegiroud.neuf.fr/teacherscorner/prep/9:11tattoo_pict.jpg

http://cdn.ugoto.com/pictures/insane-911-tattoo-f94.jpg

Well in that case he's a firefighter and those are the names of five of his comrades that died. Understandable.

Understandable?  It's as gay as the day is long.

Sometimes, more often than not I'd expect actually, it's just decoration. Meaning is way overrated IMHO.

Since I first saw a guy with one about 5 years ago, I have really wanted a DC flag tattoo on my inner forearm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1137-2004Jun23.html

Wanted: affectionate woman to share life of reliably retired sailor. Must be called Doris, Mavis or Suzie.

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/islandblogging/blogs/005261/0000006463.shtml

I've thought about getting a barcode tattoo as a statement.
Probably of my SSN.

I want to be able to, when asked for identification, show it to the officer or border guard.

Good idea - I'll do the same thing. What's your SSN?

Easy - same as Richard Nixon's.

i was tempted to get a heart with a globe in it recently. then I sobered up.