Tattoo Ideas: Words & Phrases III

Soccer superstar David Beckham and hip-hop artist Eminem are just two well-known personalities who have chosen to decorate their bodies with lettering tattoos. In the form of words either done in English or translated into another language, lettering tattoos can be words, names, dates, phrases, lyrics. There is some debate as to whether or not characters (such as Arabic, Hebrew or Sanskrit) that are used in lieu of words can actually be considered "lettering", due to the fact that they do not utilize actual letters.

Eminem's most prominent lettering tattoos are the super-sized "D" and "12" on each of his forearms in an Old English script. David Beckham chose to tattoo the names of his children, Romeo, Cruz and Brooklyn also in an Old English font. His wife, Victoria, went for a verse from Song of Songs 2:16 in Hebrew characters running down the back of her neck which translates to "I am my beloved and my beloved is mine." David Beckham later got a similar Hebrew tattoo on his lower arm to match his wife's.

In fact, matching tattoos among lovers and friends are becoming more commonplace these days, as the public graduates from simple ring finger designs and name tattoos to shared quotes and ideals of a higher consciousness. Angelina Jolie's infamous "Billy Bob" dragon in honor of then-husband Billy Bob Thornton was an obvious and explicit dedication to her love. On an episode of Showtime‘s "The L Word", Shane and Carmen celebrated their upcoming marriage by getting matching tattoos that had nothing to do with love nor marriage other than the fact that they were shared. When I was in college, my best friend and I saw the movie "Aimee & Jaguar" at a small, independent movie theater. We couldn't stop thinking about several great quotes from the film, so when we woke up one random morning with some extra cash and decided to get inked, we knew it had to be words from the touching and inspirational movie. We wanted it to be something we shared, but also something that made just as much sense when viewed separately as it did when viewed together. In the end, we paraphrased a line from the film, her getting "I don't want forever..." on her upper back and me getting "I only want now." on my lower.

BMEzine.com is an endless source of remembrance and inspiration when it comes to lettering tattoo ideas, and I am always impressed by the quality of words and phrase tattoos found on their site.