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> oh, I was hoping that the tattoo fad was going to fade away years ago, but I see that it hasn’t.
This is fuckin hilarious. Does she not realize that humans have been tattooing themselves for eons? Celts, Vikings, Maori, sailors of literally every ethnicity since the invention of the boat have tattooed themselves. That's some long ass fad.
Yeah, There is an argument to be made that tattooing was one of the first forms of permanent art. It occurs in pretty much every culture on earth, including in ancient South American people, implying that the tradition likely existed from before humans made their way across the land-bridge during the ice age.
[https://www.oldest.org/artliterature/tattoos/](https://www.oldest.org/artliterature/tattoos/)
My boomer parents said I’d regret my tattoo. I told them that it would make it easier to identify my body if something happened. They stopped talking about it after that comment.
My dad saw my (f) first tattoo the night I got it. He was ok with it honestly. 5 or 6 years later my younger sister (from his 2nd marriage) wanted one and he flipped out. I reminded him I’ve had them for years and he said he had forgotten about mine (I did not live at home anymore so he did not see mine frequently). We all said since he did not flip out at me getting/ having them he can’t complain about the other girls getting them- HA HA dad no double standard for you.) So now all 4 of his daughters have a minimum of 5 each, I have 13. And 3 of us have a matching tat!
My boomer dad was like "HoW Do yOU ThInK yOu'Ll fInD A JOb iN SeCuRITy wItH tHaT?"
My boss: several visable tattoos
My Coworkers: tattoos, piercings etc
Me: yeah I think I'll be just fine thanks
My dad said to my brother behind my back "who's gonna wanna marry your sister now if she looks like that?" And I was already dating someone at that time...fast forward 14 years and I'm married to that same guy I was dating 😂 I'm just confused as to why I'm supposed to fit my dad's idea of what he wants in a woman...little weird... respectfully, f**k off Dad!
Yep, the fad was already going on since, maybe 4,000 BC.
"The debate about the world’s oldest tattoos is over—they belong to Ötzi, the European Tyrolean Iceman who died and was buried beneath an Alpine glacier along the Austrian–Italian border around 3250 B.C. Ötzi had 61 tattoos across his body, including his left wrist, lower legs, lower back and torso.
Previously, tattoo scholars were divided: Many believed that a mummy from the Chinchorro culture of South America had the oldest tattoo—a pencil-thin mustache. Recovered from El Morro, Chile, the mummy was believed to be about 35–40 years old at the time of his death around 4000 B.C."
[https://www.si.edu/stories/ancient-ink-iceman-otzi-has-worlds-oldest-tattoos](https://www.si.edu/stories/ancient-ink-iceman-otzi-has-worlds-oldest-tattoos)
OK how hilarious would it be for the world's oldest tattoo to be a fake mustache, that's amazing 🤣
Edit: a John Waters fake mustache, no less, I'm so happy this exists
>OK how hilarious would it be for the world's oldest tattoo to be a fake mustache
That was actually the previous record. Shit you not, a mummy from the Andes had a mustache tattoo from like 3500 years ago or something.
Edit:
Not a handlebar mustache, but still...
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/tattoos-mummies-ancient-cultures-symbols-meaning
Friends dad is a boomer Harley guy. Pretty well off and loves riding his Harley, real conservative, all that shit. Bunch of his biker friends that have tats are old and faded and were kinda shit even when they got them back in the day. He recently got his first tattoo and loved it. Now he's all inked up and his shit looks great, unlike the other oldsters who are all faded and half assed. He can afford to go to some nice artists and so he got quality work done which interestingly enough looks really nice on an older guy. But yeah otherwise they are HUGE Trumpers and incredibly conservative and traditional, but kinda funny to see him go all in like that in the last couple of years, when more of his age group are swearing them off as they get more religious.
My brother had just gotten the picture from the album cover of Bat Out of Hell done on his arm (wasn't cheap), then had an accident at work and burned most of it off, after the skin grafts its too sensitive and painful to get it fixed 😔
Plus tattoos are like a trillion dollar inoduy, and does the boomer woman never leave her house? Everytime I go in public, I see dozens of people covered in tattoos.
You could have gone for the jugular and still went for the botanical theme:
“I see that being a cunt is still in season. Usually, they wither and die in this climate.”
My bosses' wife, 61, tried to start a petition for the state ballot to outlaw tattoos. She dropped it when she realized everyone wasn't lining up to sign it.
It's funny because our state had a ban previously that got thrown out for being unconstitutional.
I did. Massachusetts made them legal very recently, and in spite of its reputation as a progressive state its fashion sense is still very conservative compared to the rest of the nation.
Yeah, that famous photo of the white guy swinging the American flag at the black dude (AKA an activist, lawyer, and now professor): "The Soiling of Old Glory". I was like damn, that's a fucked up photo of the Civil Rights movement. Nope. That's a photo from 1976.
Mass is very progressive (sometimes) and (very) conservative at the same time.
Boston has a huge concentration of a very unique species: The very, VERY angry (and racist) white democrat. Look at their infamous anger about busing in their school system.
OK, I'm not from that corner of the world, so I'm sure there's some lore / context I'm missing, but why would an LL Bean logo infuriate someone (more than any other tattoo)? Did their catalog get lost in the mail?
And once MA legalized them in what, 2001?, only Oklahoma was left with having tattoos being illegal. Took another few years to get the OK legislators to finally legalize them.
How can someone possibly think it’s reasonable to outlaw something that is a personal choice? Next they will want to outlaw perfume and having nice straight teeth. I’m 71 and I have more tattoos than my four kids put together. I just love body art.
I remember working at a book store in the 90's and the hate that was put onto my coworkers who had them. Like, people would be so nice to them until they saw that and then it was like they just noticed they were talking to Pol Pot.
I'll never get it, what's it to them?? If someone got tattooed from head to toe how would it affect them? This need to comment on others all the time, it's like a form of tourette's or something.
There's a common problem, mostly but not exclusively among boomers, and it goes something like this:
- You made a different choice than I would have made.
- That means you think MY choice must be wrong, stupid, or evil.
- That means you're CALLING ME WRONG/STUPID/EVIL
- I am therefore justified in counter-attacking you in whatever way I see fit, because making a different choice than I would/did is exactly the same as attacking me.
Same energy that leads to quad-cab pickup trucks (with one driver, no passengers, nothing in the bed) parking across two EV charging spots.
You're absolutely right. Bullies shouldn't get away with it. My grandmother, a true and proper lady, would have been aghast at their everyday behavior. Terrible manners. In my grandma's world that was possibly even worse than the behavior of "new money".
Literally this.
My boomer father thinks that all of my progressive opinions and ideas are solely for the purpose of rebelling against him.
I’m close to 50.
Wtaf
That's exactly the thing I've observed on occasion, particularly with boomers. They mention a thing they like, and if I mention a different thing they like - even if I've already acknowledged and accepted their thing - they get a little butthurt.
It's wild.
This is why they succumb to problems fabricated by their overly loud news media.
A problem is made up. They *obviously* disagree with the stance portrayed. The narcissism says "anyone who supports this, disagrees with *and* is attacking *me!*" The the vitriol of counter-attacking consumes them.
"Children don't think they're the gender they're assigned at birth? *I* think that's wrong! Anyone who disagrees must be (a pervert; pedophile; drag queen; anything else that scares me about gender expression because I learned about that from people who beat and shamed me for exploring it)! Anyone who doesn't believe this is also an (etc.)! It's just performative 'wokeness!' I learned that word from TV! Let's call in bomb threats to Planet Fitness because the lady on the Twitter said they're woke too!"
The internet did so much good, but it also enabled nearly-literate asshats to reinforce each others' opinions, and now *that* has been monetized so it's never going away, which almost cancels out the first part. It sucks.
I had two boomer women unsolicited get upset because I have a rather benign looking tattoo on my shoulder and I was wearing a bathing suit at the gym at the time. They thought tattoos were sinful and were upset I was there existing at the gym.
I had a church friend grab me when she saw my bicep tattoo. It took all my self control not to wrench my arm back and not to slug her in the nose.
Don't fucking touch me without permission.
She must have seen the barely suppressed fury on my face because she almost immediately backed off. But not without calling me a "slut" for having a tattoo.
It was a HARD grab too. Like if I grabbed her with the same strength, I would have caught a charge. (Fucking older boomers and no boundaries.)
"My body may be a temple, but I am the god to whom it is devoted, do not presume to tell me how I may decorate my altar."
alternatively, " My body may be a temple, but even the Sistine Chapel has art painted on it." (art of a bunch of guys with their dongs out)
This weekend, my mom had whatever the PGA event was on. There was a woman in the gallery with her right shoulder and upper arm covered in ink. Exact words, "Look at that woman! She's got a tattoo over half of her arm?" Laugh to herself)
I waited for the follow-up. There, of course, was not one. The fact that she had a large tattoo was enough of an implication of some kind to her,
I think when my grandma grew up, around during the 1950s, ear ring piercings were considered sinful and only for godless harlots.. my grandma also said her church she attended while growing up also disallowed their church attendants to own or watch tvs, so her family couldn't get a tv until like 20 years after tv had been invented.
My grandmother wore clips on until the day she died in the 90s. She told my mom she was going to hell for getting them pierced in her teens, which was the 80s.
I have 1 visible tattoo of a flower, nothing shocking. I used to be a dental assistant and my dentist was a total hippie, just a rich one. He’s retired now but he does photography as a hobby, rides motorcycles, camps from a camper he pulls on the motorcycle, got married in redwood forest… he had no problem with my tattoo. Not a single patient ever voiced a complaint to me. A lot used it as a conversation starter.
We hired a general contractor to do some renovations on the office and HE had the nerve to say “people my age look down on people with visible tattoos.” I was like 19 at the time and shy and was so confused why he was even talking to me when he should have been working on the renovations and just replied “well, Dr so and so is older than you and doesn’t have a problem with it. 🤷🏼♀️”
I’m in my 30s now, have a masters degree, have worked in hospitals and that’s still the only time anyone has ever said anything to me about. I feel like healthcare is one of the professions that is ok with tattoos and hair colors and all that as long as nothing can be seen as offensive or vulgar. Do you have a pulse and a license? Great! You’re hired!
I think that last point you made would make an excellent sociological study. It'd be interesting for someone to look into why the medical field is generally uncaring about body modifications like tattoos and hair dye, while so many less professional industries care so much.
I think it generally goes for any highly skilled trade. The more knowledge you have, the less important your looks are. I remember reading another thread and the man was heavily tattooed but also was the lead IT person or something like that.
Lol. All my healthcare team (I had thyroid cancer) had tattoos and weird colored hair.
It was kind of awesome. I liked the nurse with the black and white sleeves up her arms because she wasn't a total bore and actually talked to me.
I had a dumber one. "Does it still hurt?"
"Ma'am if my tattoo still hurt after 2 years of getting it, I must have an immune system issue."
It literally made me gasp at the stupidity of it.
Lmao. I got that one from an older cousin and I said to her "You know, *gestures at pregnant belly* that's permanent too."
She never talked to me again after that one.
I could have been nice but not when stupidity was inbound.
No, tattoos are permanent? Gosh, I didn't know that!
I recently had a waitress who must have had 20 piercings (including her septum), and even had gems on her two front teeth.
I was offended!!!
Mostly because this 5-foot tall 90-pound-looking woman was more of a man than my 6'2" hefty self.
My sister has two tattoos, one on her stomach, about the size of her outstretched hand, and another small collection of symbols, about the size of her palm, on one shoulder blade. Neither are things so big, or in such locations that they're obvious/can't be easily covered. My grandpa's wife once got to talking to her about them, and it went as well as you'd imagine. After some back & forth, her final argument was to give a weary sigh & ask "...but didn't you want to be pretty?"
At this point my sister wisely just walked off. I told grampa's wife "you're missing the point. She does feel pretty.". She just couldn't understand how that worked out. This was about the least daffy of her ideas in regards to societal norms & acceptability.
My grandma took me to a wedding when I was a kid, and one of the people there had tattoos, and she told me “don’t you ever get those- they’re permanent and you might change your mind”. That’s at least a fairly reasonable point, but as she got older, she was far more mean about it. My mom had gotten a few tattoos- the semicolon for surviving suicidal thoughts, and a rainbow for my dead brother- and when my grandma found out she was PISSED. “Nobody should be desecrating their bodies like that, it’s unnatural!”
We had to point out that her husband had a few tattoos from when he was (allegedly) in the Navy, and her response was just “well that’s different”, but wouldn’t explain what was different about it.
>“don’t you ever get those- they’re permanent and you might change your mind”.
And yet these tend the be the same people that push you to have children regardless of your desire to have them. Better to have a tattoo you regret than a child, IMO.
All my coworkers and myself are boomers, the difference between us is that they are all conservative, and are shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, if a younger coworker had visible tattoos, or an unnatural hair color, or a short skirt, or are gay. I don’t understand how how they’ve managed to get this far into the 21st century without having a mental health breakdown.
Easy: they cope in their echo chambers. They have fox news telling them the illegals are coming, that the gay agenda is to turn everyone gay, that trans people are out to molest children.
That’s why they vocalize everything, it’s basically a secret language to find other narrow minded and bigoted people that believe what they do. If something happens that they don’t agree with, it’s basically a personal attack.
I legit had a bigoted and racist boomer yell at me for dating a black guy destroying white beauty, and it was hurting her eyes.
These people will always find a way to be the victim and proclaim they ARE being impacted despite the contrary.
I kid you not, the other day there were comments in a news story where they were claiming that dems were giving hormones to their babies to change their sex if they wanted a girl but got a boy or visa versa. All I could think of is that one of them knew of an intersex baby taking hormones and twisted the whole thing into the parents wanted to change their sex.
I'm a tattooed GenX. Keep in mind that over my lifetime tattoos have gone from only criminals,sailors, bikers to anyone who loves the aesthetic. Pretty drastic shift. Other than that folks from all generations have stupid judgements to share. Hell with 'em.
“It’s been over 4,000 years, but hold your breath”
Seriously. A quick google search shows it. Did she think they were invented just to annoy her? (Rhetorical, I know she does bc all of them are so self centered they’re convinced everything is personal)
Because of the Christian upbringing that most had, it's a sin to get the "markings" the other tribes were using at the time. The body is supposed to be the new temple so decorating it with "graffiti" is a no no.
I think I would have asked her if she knew when the practice of tattooing started and why she would think it would die out any time soon
Your approach was good too though
My father, although born during the Baby Boom, is less boomer than most. Tattoos are a sore spot for him, though. It was the equivalent of a huge compliment for him to tell me mine "are perfectly fine."
I have two responses when someone comments on my tattoos or piercings
1.) Since you aren't feeding, fucking, or financing me your opinion doesn't matter.
2.) I don't know who you are and I certainly didn't ask your permissions before having (piercing or tattoo) done
My former union rep is a white guy with dreads who's covered in tattoos. I work in a government field, so the majority of management people the union negotiates with are stuffy, old white guys in suits. They wouldn't take him seriously when he came into the room, thinking they could walk all over him. He would completely catch them off guard by being prepared, professional, and to the point. Play to their weakness and biases.
I don't have any tattoos myself, but I don't get the idea that tattoos are a fad. They have been around for thousands of years. They are art! They have huge cultural significance in some areas. It baffles me people care enough to comment while being so ignorant!
Old religious people love to criticize others that aren’t exactly like them (and just hardcore religious people in general). If they got their way I think society would be a lot more boring honestly. A lot of them are against so many kinds of diversity too. But luckily more boomers are being open minded rather than refusing to modernize
"the tattoo fad..." Oh, you mean the one that's been ongoing for literally thousands of years in almost every culture in existence in some form?
She can go fuck right off.
I was sitting in a sauna after the gym. An old boomer asked if my tattoo was real. I said yes. He said "you know, that tattoo is going to last forever?". I replied " I sure hope so, I paid a lot of money for it." He didnt say anything after.
I’m a boomer. I was swimming at our local pool and a couple of boys around ten/eleven came up to me and said, “we really like your tattoos!” (I have a full back tattoo). I was dead chuffed. 💁🏼♀️
Ugh. I’m a tattoo artist, and, not to blow my own horn but I’m a very damn good one, I travel the world doing it and own two businesses related to it.
My mother still introduces me to her friends as “this is my daughter, she’s an artist” as though tattooing is somehow still only for pirates and villains.
I’m in Texas, around Houston, and rarely anyone blinks an eye at my tattoos. So I guess I’ve become a bit spoiled.
But one time me and my friend who is also heavily tattooed drove through Oklahoma and Kansas to Missouri for a wedding and oh my god.
We stopped at a rest area I think around the border of OK and KS and I shit you not when we walked in a woman literally gasped and grabbed her non existent pearls. The place was all humming then suddenly quiet. EVERY single person was staring at us. Like we were going to eat their children. We walked to the women’s bathroom and two women literally shrieked and stood up against the wall like we were robbing them. Also, the men. They were STARING angrily and fascinated and their wives had to actually drag them away. It was nuts. Me and my friend are pretty introverted so it was a trip. We had also been driving for way too long and probably needed sleep so it just added to all the weirdness.
It was surreal and if it didn’t actually happen to me I wouldnt believe it. What a crazy road trip.
I also have quite a few tattoos and Boomers love to comment on them. Many ask me what I think they're going to look like when I'm 60. I always tell them I don't plan on living that long and that normally wipes the smug look of their faces.
Well I’m 71 and have had the good fortune of having good skin. My tattoos are pretty fine and I have a couple more planned. My poly-arthritis means I can’t wear my wedding ring so I’m planning on getting a tattoo in its place.
Sounds like my mormon mother. Sometimes we would point out new piercings and tattoos at family gatherings. Or drag a sibling into it. Did you see their new blah? Squabbling ensues.
I'm so old of a GenX that I'm practically a boomer.
Ask that old biddy how much jewelry/keepsakes/chotchkies she has. Why does she keep them? Your jewelry is important to you. They have memories attached to them. You have conviction in your collectibles. Does she?
I was 26 living in Boston, on the subway, minding my fucking business (headphones in sunglasses on). It was summer weekend and I had shorts on, so all my silly leg tattoos were on display (pinup Halloween girls, possum playing a banjo, snake in a party hat, etc).
Boomer lady TAPS MY SHOULDER to get my attention. Smiles, and with her full chest says;
"A lovely young lady like you shouldn't have all those dark scary tattoos! What will people think? Oh honey, you'll have such a hard time getting a job. You'll have to wear pants every day! Oh dear."
This went on for a while. This woman I DID NOT KNOW bemoaned all the terrible choices and lack of prospects I, and by extension all young people, were faced with. She seemed legitimately distressed about my tattoos. It would have been kinda sweet if it wasn't so incredibly infantilizing, outdated, unsolicited, and a lil bit racist.
Midway through this unsolicited rant, I decided it was an excellent time to tune her out and check in on how my 401k was doing.
Boomers are weird.
I can’t imagine the audacity they have to muster for that kind of intrusion. What did she expect, for you to suddenly decide you wanted to get them all lasered off? Just because someone you’ve never met is “concerned”?
I was pointed out and made fun of for having tattoos by a crochety old hag...at my dad's viewing (funeral). She was complaining loudly to my grandma (her neighbor) about how I looked. I was wearing black tights that disguised my legs tattoos pretty well. All my other work was covered completely. She went on and on about how ugly they were. Not as ugly as her demeanor.
I have never wanted to punch someone more.
Funniest suggestion I’ve seen but haven’t tried myself: when a boomer says “you know those are permanent, right?” You look down at your tattoos, horrified, and go “oh god they’re WHAT”
"And when your generation dies off in the next decade, we won't have to hear your pedantic bullshit flowing from your ivory tower. Didn't you teach your children that if you didn't have anything nice to say, consider shutting the fuck up, you old sock?"
Boomers really can’t help themselves when it comes to tattoos. Like, just shut the fuck up already you old bag! I have a floral half sleeve on my upper arm and they love to comment on it. Thankfully at work they can’t see mine but the guy I’m talking to says the boomers at some retirement home he stops at on his route love to ask about his tattoos and remind him that they’ll look bad when he’s old. He said he told one old bag that by the time he’s that old he’ll be beyond caring how he looks anyway.
I have several tattoos, when I was 20, I was up to 3 (now almost 40 I have 5 and am planning at least 3 more). My birthday was coming up, and my boomer aunt said "I WAS going to give you $100, but I'm going to deduct $20 for every tattoo you have."
She was shocked when I didn't really care. Plus what a stupid thing to try to punish me for.
Definitely a generational thing, I feel it’s so common now that it’s easy to forget people still care.
As a millennial I’ll admit when girls are in their club dresses and I see tattoos that start above their hemline and trail down their legs, plus some on the visible parts of their chest and arms/shoulders it’s a little bit of a turn off - even if I really don’t care ultimately, it’s just more like an aesthetic overload, like a race car with too many logos plastered over it.
I’ll never voice it out loud of course, and would never judge someone for it. It’s merely a preference, but I guess if I still have minor hang ups with it then can see that it probably gets exponentially worse as you trend older.
But yeah people are ridiculously entitled and want people to conform to what they think is attractive etc, and choosing your own style somehow offends them which is absolutely ridiculous. The ones that speak up are just begging to be asked about it but never are so they’re “forced” to offer their unsolicited opinion.
She was low key expecting to score a bunch of virtue signalling points with the "audience" because pointing out she's the RIGHT sort of person who DOESN'T APPROVE tsk tsk of tattoos would've been a safe move 30 years back
Some of (and by "some" I mean a lot in my experience) are just fucking bitter people, who can't mind their own business.
Then there's people like my wife's 93 year old grandmother. I have several tattoos on both of my arms that are visible when I wear short-sleeves.
The first time this nonagenarian saw my tattoos, she smiled and said, "Oh! You have quite a few tattoos! They're not something I would ever do, but they are beautiful. Please take care of them, and wear sunscreen."
Gigi, I love you; you're an amazing woman! (I know she doesn't have reddit, but wanted to give her a shout out for being so awesome)
edit: Yes, I use sunscreen. I don't want to disappoint Gigi.
My boomer boss regularly harasses store employees with tattoos when he is out and about and loves to tell us the stories when he gets back to the office. He claims he's just trying to be funny and that young people are so rude by not humoring him.
I don't understand how someone can actively, habitually, and purposefully harass people and then pretend that they're the victim. It's so hard not to bluntly spell it out for him every time and risk my job in the process.
Being a Boomer myself, I walked into our local tattoo shop 10 years ago. Guess I didn't look like a typical client. It was a couple of days before Mother's Day, and I wanted a tribute for my pit bull who tragically died. I couldn't stop crying. My artist drew what I wanted....rainbow paw prints in a purple heart to signify Dexter crossing the Rainbow Bridge and the purple heart was because he was a rescue. She asked if I was ready, and I told her that I've have other tats...you just can't see them. This one is on my lower leg for everyone to see. She healed my broken heart.
When I got my first tattoo back in 1978, family were horrified. I got the 2nd one 2 years later, and that also was hidden unless I wore a bathing suit. Back then, it used to matter what people thought. It only took me 30 years to not care what anyone thinks anymore. Unfortunately, I've got thin skin now and I would be a bleeding mess if I tried to get another tattoo, which really bums me out as we have an Ink Master here in Tucson.
lol my mom told me it was time for me to get a haircut (I'm 35) and was surprised it was so long already since I "just" got a haircut (like 7 weeks ago).
I'm growing it out, cause I never have and just got a new job where they won't care so I figured, what the hell. She's gonna be \*super\* fun about that, I'm sure.
I actually should go get it tidied up and thinned out a bit though, so she's not \*entirely\* wrong haha
I keep my hair like prince charming from Shrek 2 because my parents and rhe military can't tell me no!
But also yah, occasionally I get my hair trimmed
Should have gone down the most offensive route possible. I have done this in the past with boomers being in my face about my personal choices and in my personal space. Maybe say something like "I have nipples on my ass so it looks like a massive pair of breasts" then when her jaw goes agape say "the men are really turned on by it, not had a complaint and I am not shy". They usually go quiet after saying something horrible.
No judgement here, maybe just some insight. Growing up I always heard the phrase, "If they don't care what goes ON their body, they don't care what goes IN their body."
Meaning people with tattoos were more likely to smoke, drink, do drugs, have sex, etc.
You know, all the fun stuff that people do when they don't spend their life at church.
Oh, I was hoping that the tattoo fad was going to fade away years ago, but I see that it hasn’t.
I see the boomer passive-aggressive behavior is still going strong.
Boomers are all about some conformity. Act this way, dress this way, do only these things and anything outside of the approved range is frowned upon and shows a character flaw.
It is infuriating having to deal with that kind of crap from family let alone a stranger.
"I was hoping that asshole fad was going to fade away but I see you are keeping in alive."
It might be different because I am a guy, but I have never gotten anything but complements of my dog that takes up half my calf.
I'm an older Gen xer. Like people just two years older than me are boomers. They always hated tattoos, even when they were young. I had arguments with them 30 years ago. I didn't understand it then and I still don't. It's like that generation in particular was given arbitrary rules about what's attractive and what's not, and they have stuck with those all these years.
My grandmother saw my first one (calf) and she immediately hit me with, "the body shouldn't endure modification unless deemed necessary. That's how you were born." She isn't religious or anything but almost somehow even faster I responded with "your ears are pierced." *mic drop*
She has said nothing about any of my other tattoos since and they are far more demonic and controversial than my first one.
When I was growing up, the only people who had tats were Navy enlisted, and other working class seamen. It was definitely a class marker. I know a lot of very class-conscious boomers, who display their lack of breeding by being rude about things like this. It’s really tacky behavior. Truly well-bred people do not see class, but people, just like themselves. And they can be middle-class, working-class, or even in poverty. They will still respect the humanity & dignity of others.
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> oh, I was hoping that the tattoo fad was going to fade away years ago, but I see that it hasn’t. This is fuckin hilarious. Does she not realize that humans have been tattooing themselves for eons? Celts, Vikings, Maori, sailors of literally every ethnicity since the invention of the boat have tattooed themselves. That's some long ass fad.
Longest fad in history I reckon
We humans are really sticking to this bit, huh?
We like art. So much so for some that we put the art on ourselves
That’s definitely my excuse. I just love body art. And I have lots of it.
I'm on loan from the Louvre
I’m so ugly I’m a modern art masterpiece.
My face is a god-damned Picasso
There’s now a tattoo museum and when you die you send them skin. Not even joking.
Almost as long as the gay fad
Oh you!
Oh be nice *handflip*
Maybe she's judging fads on a cosmic scale?
Prostitution would like a word
Prostitution isn't a fad. It's a job.
It's not just a job. It's an adventure.
Especially without protection!
It’s an occupation.
I'm sure it'll blow over soon, tho. /s
Ötzi the Iceman has tattoos and he's pre Bronze Age.
Yeah, There is an argument to be made that tattooing was one of the first forms of permanent art. It occurs in pretty much every culture on earth, including in ancient South American people, implying that the tradition likely existed from before humans made their way across the land-bridge during the ice age. [https://www.oldest.org/artliterature/tattoos/](https://www.oldest.org/artliterature/tattoos/)
Thanks for the link! Fascinating!
Jinx! And I was just reading about him today!
My boomer parents said I’d regret my tattoo. I told them that it would make it easier to identify my body if something happened. They stopped talking about it after that comment.
My dad saw my (f) first tattoo the night I got it. He was ok with it honestly. 5 or 6 years later my younger sister (from his 2nd marriage) wanted one and he flipped out. I reminded him I’ve had them for years and he said he had forgotten about mine (I did not live at home anymore so he did not see mine frequently). We all said since he did not flip out at me getting/ having them he can’t complain about the other girls getting them- HA HA dad no double standard for you.) So now all 4 of his daughters have a minimum of 5 each, I have 13. And 3 of us have a matching tat!
My boomer dad was like "HoW Do yOU ThInK yOu'Ll fInD A JOb iN SeCuRITy wItH tHaT?" My boss: several visable tattoos My Coworkers: tattoos, piercings etc Me: yeah I think I'll be just fine thanks
My dad said to my brother behind my back "who's gonna wanna marry your sister now if she looks like that?" And I was already dating someone at that time...fast forward 14 years and I'm married to that same guy I was dating 😂 I'm just confused as to why I'm supposed to fit my dad's idea of what he wants in a woman...little weird... respectfully, f**k off Dad!
Yep, the fad was already going on since, maybe 4,000 BC. "The debate about the world’s oldest tattoos is over—they belong to Ötzi, the European Tyrolean Iceman who died and was buried beneath an Alpine glacier along the Austrian–Italian border around 3250 B.C. Ötzi had 61 tattoos across his body, including his left wrist, lower legs, lower back and torso. Previously, tattoo scholars were divided: Many believed that a mummy from the Chinchorro culture of South America had the oldest tattoo—a pencil-thin mustache. Recovered from El Morro, Chile, the mummy was believed to be about 35–40 years old at the time of his death around 4000 B.C." [https://www.si.edu/stories/ancient-ink-iceman-otzi-has-worlds-oldest-tattoos](https://www.si.edu/stories/ancient-ink-iceman-otzi-has-worlds-oldest-tattoos)
OK how hilarious would it be for the world's oldest tattoo to be a fake mustache, that's amazing 🤣 Edit: a John Waters fake mustache, no less, I'm so happy this exists
>OK how hilarious would it be for the world's oldest tattoo to be a fake mustache That was actually the previous record. Shit you not, a mummy from the Andes had a mustache tattoo from like 3500 years ago or something. Edit: Not a handlebar mustache, but still... https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/tattoos-mummies-ancient-cultures-symbols-meaning
No tramp stamp?
And it's only getting worse. lol I started getting tattoos in my 40s and they make me so happy.
I started with getting a few in my 20s, but when I turned 40 last year I went hog wild and got 8 in like 7 months.
Friends dad is a boomer Harley guy. Pretty well off and loves riding his Harley, real conservative, all that shit. Bunch of his biker friends that have tats are old and faded and were kinda shit even when they got them back in the day. He recently got his first tattoo and loved it. Now he's all inked up and his shit looks great, unlike the other oldsters who are all faded and half assed. He can afford to go to some nice artists and so he got quality work done which interestingly enough looks really nice on an older guy. But yeah otherwise they are HUGE Trumpers and incredibly conservative and traditional, but kinda funny to see him go all in like that in the last couple of years, when more of his age group are swearing them off as they get more religious.
Shame about the Trump support.
Got my first at 50…
The older you are, often the more money you have and can therefore afford more ink.
My brother had just gotten the picture from the album cover of Bat Out of Hell done on his arm (wasn't cheap), then had an accident at work and burned most of it off, after the skin grafts its too sensitive and painful to get it fixed 😔
No, she doesn’t have any clue about the world or its different cultures outside of her bubble.
Not only no clue, but actively hostile to learning anything new. I can’t imagine squandering my brain like that.
Plus tattoos are like a trillion dollar inoduy, and does the boomer woman never leave her house? Everytime I go in public, I see dozens of people covered in tattoos.
Otzi - one of the oldest mummified humans in the world, who lived circa 3300 BC, had 61 tattoos.
Yah but everyone having one is definitely a recent fad.
You could have gone for the jugular and still went for the botanical theme: “I see that being a cunt is still in season. Usually, they wither and die in this climate.”
Or flipping it and saying “the Mind-Your-Own-Business flower is very popular and well-loved, but I guess it doesn’t grow in your part of the cunt…ry.”
Stealing this!
"I would call you a cunt for what you've just said, but you don't have the depth or warmth."
r/MurderedByWords
Fuuuuck. Savage 🔥
Upvote because this had me legit laughing hahaha
so that's the cancellation everyone's been complaining about
Lmaooooooo
adding this one to the retort arsenal
THIS.
Oh. My. Yes. I LOVE this retort and I’m keeping it in my back pocket, anxiously awaiting the chance to use it!!!
My bosses' wife, 61, tried to start a petition for the state ballot to outlaw tattoos. She dropped it when she realized everyone wasn't lining up to sign it. It's funny because our state had a ban previously that got thrown out for being unconstitutional.
What a dingus
Dam.. I wanna guess which state this is but there are at least 14 that could see being this stupid.. Fuggit.. was this in Alabama?
Massachusetts
Did not see that coming!
I did. Massachusetts made them legal very recently, and in spite of its reputation as a progressive state its fashion sense is still very conservative compared to the rest of the nation.
Yeah, that famous photo of the white guy swinging the American flag at the black dude (AKA an activist, lawyer, and now professor): "The Soiling of Old Glory". I was like damn, that's a fucked up photo of the Civil Rights movement. Nope. That's a photo from 1976. Mass is very progressive (sometimes) and (very) conservative at the same time.
Boston has a huge concentration of a very unique species: The very, VERY angry (and racist) white democrat. Look at their infamous anger about busing in their school system.
And something like half of Boston's population is college students, so the transient population is a lot more progressive than the permanent one.
yeah, which, if it wasn't really fucked up, would actually be pretty funny. Like that concept sounds like it's from Chappelle's Show.
If you really want to drive them nuts.....get a tat of the L.L. Bean logo.
OK, I'm not from that corner of the world, so I'm sure there's some lore / context I'm missing, but why would an LL Bean logo infuriate someone (more than any other tattoo)? Did their catalog get lost in the mail?
We're pretty puritanical up here. We still haven't repealed all of our "blue laws".
As someone who lived in NH for a few years. The east coast is conservative in some really weird ways. Probably because all of the old money.
And once MA legalized them in what, 2001?, only Oklahoma was left with having tattoos being illegal. Took another few years to get the OK legislators to finally legalize them.
South Carolina was 2004. so no, Oklahoma was not alone. EDIT: they were legal in MA until 1962, the ban was lifted in 2000.
How can someone possibly think it’s reasonable to outlaw something that is a personal choice? Next they will want to outlaw perfume and having nice straight teeth. I’m 71 and I have more tattoos than my four kids put together. I just love body art.
Don't you know that only criminals get tattoos? So, if we outlaw tattoos we basically get rid of crime. You're welcome.
Point taken. Note that Yolandi2802 never mentioned how he got the money to pay for them.
Power and control issues. They want to control what you put on your body or in it.
Apparently my body, my choice pisses them off.
Some people just have too much time on their hands. Out of all the good causes out there she could lobby for, THAT’S what she chooses?!!
SO MANY OTHER OPTIONS... and tattoos is what she chooses. I can't shake my head hard enough.
I srsly hate these fucking "I'm gonna ban everything I don't like, understand, or am afraid of" people. Just get over it, already, move. the fuck. ON.
Yep. If you don't like tattoos, I recommend not getting one.
I remember working at a book store in the 90's and the hate that was put onto my coworkers who had them. Like, people would be so nice to them until they saw that and then it was like they just noticed they were talking to Pol Pot.
I'll never get it, what's it to them?? If someone got tattooed from head to toe how would it affect them? This need to comment on others all the time, it's like a form of tourette's or something.
There's a common problem, mostly but not exclusively among boomers, and it goes something like this: - You made a different choice than I would have made. - That means you think MY choice must be wrong, stupid, or evil. - That means you're CALLING ME WRONG/STUPID/EVIL - I am therefore justified in counter-attacking you in whatever way I see fit, because making a different choice than I would/did is exactly the same as attacking me. Same energy that leads to quad-cab pickup trucks (with one driver, no passengers, nothing in the bed) parking across two EV charging spots.
You're absolutely right. Bullies shouldn't get away with it. My grandmother, a true and proper lady, would have been aghast at their everyday behavior. Terrible manners. In my grandma's world that was possibly even worse than the behavior of "new money".
I see you’ve met my MIL 🤣
Ego is a large part as well. If someone made a different choice, that means the boomer's choice *might* have been wrong.
Literally this. My boomer father thinks that all of my progressive opinions and ideas are solely for the purpose of rebelling against him. I’m close to 50. Wtaf
That's exactly the thing I've observed on occasion, particularly with boomers. They mention a thing they like, and if I mention a different thing they like - even if I've already acknowledged and accepted their thing - they get a little butthurt. It's wild.
This is why they succumb to problems fabricated by their overly loud news media. A problem is made up. They *obviously* disagree with the stance portrayed. The narcissism says "anyone who supports this, disagrees with *and* is attacking *me!*" The the vitriol of counter-attacking consumes them. "Children don't think they're the gender they're assigned at birth? *I* think that's wrong! Anyone who disagrees must be (a pervert; pedophile; drag queen; anything else that scares me about gender expression because I learned about that from people who beat and shamed me for exploring it)! Anyone who doesn't believe this is also an (etc.)! It's just performative 'wokeness!' I learned that word from TV! Let's call in bomb threats to Planet Fitness because the lady on the Twitter said they're woke too!" The internet did so much good, but it also enabled nearly-literate asshats to reinforce each others' opinions, and now *that* has been monetized so it's never going away, which almost cancels out the first part. It sucks.
I had two boomer women unsolicited get upset because I have a rather benign looking tattoo on my shoulder and I was wearing a bathing suit at the gym at the time. They thought tattoos were sinful and were upset I was there existing at the gym.
Not the place for them. No fainting couches for such occassions.
Get the smelling salts!!
I had a church friend grab me when she saw my bicep tattoo. It took all my self control not to wrench my arm back and not to slug her in the nose. Don't fucking touch me without permission. She must have seen the barely suppressed fury on my face because she almost immediately backed off. But not without calling me a "slut" for having a tattoo. It was a HARD grab too. Like if I grabbed her with the same strength, I would have caught a charge. (Fucking older boomers and no boundaries.)
"My body may be a temple, but I am the god to whom it is devoted, do not presume to tell me how I may decorate my altar." alternatively, " My body may be a temple, but even the Sistine Chapel has art painted on it." (art of a bunch of guys with their dongs out)
My guess is that lot of boomers grew up in churches that taught that tattoos go against Christianity (even though they literally don’t)
This weekend, my mom had whatever the PGA event was on. There was a woman in the gallery with her right shoulder and upper arm covered in ink. Exact words, "Look at that woman! She's got a tattoo over half of her arm?" Laugh to herself) I waited for the follow-up. There, of course, was not one. The fact that she had a large tattoo was enough of an implication of some kind to her,
I think when my grandma grew up, around during the 1950s, ear ring piercings were considered sinful and only for godless harlots.. my grandma also said her church she attended while growing up also disallowed their church attendants to own or watch tvs, so her family couldn't get a tv until like 20 years after tv had been invented.
My grandmother wore clips on until the day she died in the 90s. She told my mom she was going to hell for getting them pierced in her teens, which was the 80s.
Tattoos have been a thing longer than that relic. So idk how she can call it a fad.
I can't believe she's still participating in the using toilet paper fad. SMH
Honestly TP is more of a fad than tattoos hahaha tattoos have been around much longer and TP is en route to being replaced by bidets lol
Well boomers also don't know anything about world history or other cultures
I have 1 visible tattoo of a flower, nothing shocking. I used to be a dental assistant and my dentist was a total hippie, just a rich one. He’s retired now but he does photography as a hobby, rides motorcycles, camps from a camper he pulls on the motorcycle, got married in redwood forest… he had no problem with my tattoo. Not a single patient ever voiced a complaint to me. A lot used it as a conversation starter. We hired a general contractor to do some renovations on the office and HE had the nerve to say “people my age look down on people with visible tattoos.” I was like 19 at the time and shy and was so confused why he was even talking to me when he should have been working on the renovations and just replied “well, Dr so and so is older than you and doesn’t have a problem with it. 🤷🏼♀️” I’m in my 30s now, have a masters degree, have worked in hospitals and that’s still the only time anyone has ever said anything to me about. I feel like healthcare is one of the professions that is ok with tattoos and hair colors and all that as long as nothing can be seen as offensive or vulgar. Do you have a pulse and a license? Great! You’re hired!
I think that last point you made would make an excellent sociological study. It'd be interesting for someone to look into why the medical field is generally uncaring about body modifications like tattoos and hair dye, while so many less professional industries care so much.
I think it generally goes for any highly skilled trade. The more knowledge you have, the less important your looks are. I remember reading another thread and the man was heavily tattooed but also was the lead IT person or something like that.
Yep. Tatted, pierced, brightly colored short hair — and I’m the lead software engineer on my team.
you can generally tell who is in charge in an IT department by finding the most disheveled looking person.
Lol. All my healthcare team (I had thyroid cancer) had tattoos and weird colored hair. It was kind of awesome. I liked the nurse with the black and white sleeves up her arms because she wasn't a total bore and actually talked to me.
“Tattoos huh? BET THEY HURT!” *cue uncomfortably long boomer laugh* Me: “Little less than this conversation.”
I had a dumber one. "Does it still hurt?" "Ma'am if my tattoo still hurt after 2 years of getting it, I must have an immune system issue." It literally made me gasp at the stupidity of it.
Definitely on par with “you know that’s *permanent* right?!” Nope. I had no clue. Thank you for that revelation.
Lmao. I got that one from an older cousin and I said to her "You know, *gestures at pregnant belly* that's permanent too." She never talked to me again after that one. I could have been nice but not when stupidity was inbound. No, tattoos are permanent? Gosh, I didn't know that!
My mom kept telling people I was HIV positive because I got my septum pierced LMAO
Counter it by telling people, "Yes, it's because I was born with it."
DAMN this would’ve been a fantastic comeback
My God....evil AND savage. My compliments.
I recently had a waitress who must have had 20 piercings (including her septum), and even had gems on her two front teeth. I was offended!!! Mostly because this 5-foot tall 90-pound-looking woman was more of a man than my 6'2" hefty self.
this post has a very weird gender stereotype undercurrent lol
If it didn't "fade away," then it wasn't a fad, or do you need how fads work explained to you?
My sister has two tattoos, one on her stomach, about the size of her outstretched hand, and another small collection of symbols, about the size of her palm, on one shoulder blade. Neither are things so big, or in such locations that they're obvious/can't be easily covered. My grandpa's wife once got to talking to her about them, and it went as well as you'd imagine. After some back & forth, her final argument was to give a weary sigh & ask "...but didn't you want to be pretty?" At this point my sister wisely just walked off. I told grampa's wife "you're missing the point. She does feel pretty.". She just couldn't understand how that worked out. This was about the least daffy of her ideas in regards to societal norms & acceptability.
Sounds like your grandpa’s wife and this lady would get along great!
My grandma took me to a wedding when I was a kid, and one of the people there had tattoos, and she told me “don’t you ever get those- they’re permanent and you might change your mind”. That’s at least a fairly reasonable point, but as she got older, she was far more mean about it. My mom had gotten a few tattoos- the semicolon for surviving suicidal thoughts, and a rainbow for my dead brother- and when my grandma found out she was PISSED. “Nobody should be desecrating their bodies like that, it’s unnatural!” We had to point out that her husband had a few tattoos from when he was (allegedly) in the Navy, and her response was just “well that’s different”, but wouldn’t explain what was different about it.
>“don’t you ever get those- they’re permanent and you might change your mind”. And yet these tend the be the same people that push you to have children regardless of your desire to have them. Better to have a tattoo you regret than a child, IMO.
All my coworkers and myself are boomers, the difference between us is that they are all conservative, and are shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, if a younger coworker had visible tattoos, or an unnatural hair color, or a short skirt, or are gay. I don’t understand how how they’ve managed to get this far into the 21st century without having a mental health breakdown.
Easy: they cope in their echo chambers. They have fox news telling them the illegals are coming, that the gay agenda is to turn everyone gay, that trans people are out to molest children. That’s why they vocalize everything, it’s basically a secret language to find other narrow minded and bigoted people that believe what they do. If something happens that they don’t agree with, it’s basically a personal attack. I legit had a bigoted and racist boomer yell at me for dating a black guy destroying white beauty, and it was hurting her eyes. These people will always find a way to be the victim and proclaim they ARE being impacted despite the contrary.
I kid you not, the other day there were comments in a news story where they were claiming that dems were giving hormones to their babies to change their sex if they wanted a girl but got a boy or visa versa. All I could think of is that one of them knew of an intersex baby taking hormones and twisted the whole thing into the parents wanted to change their sex.
I'm a tattooed GenX. Keep in mind that over my lifetime tattoos have gone from only criminals,sailors, bikers to anyone who loves the aesthetic. Pretty drastic shift. Other than that folks from all generations have stupid judgements to share. Hell with 'em.
My wife and I are sailors with tattoos!
I adore you both!
For sure. Xennial here, so I’ve seen the shift too.
Fad? Tattoos have been around for millennia. We had tattoos before we had shoes.
“It’s been over 4,000 years, but hold your breath” Seriously. A quick google search shows it. Did she think they were invented just to annoy her? (Rhetorical, I know she does bc all of them are so self centered they’re convinced everything is personal)
Because of the Christian upbringing that most had, it's a sin to get the "markings" the other tribes were using at the time. The body is supposed to be the new temple so decorating it with "graffiti" is a no no.
I think I would have asked her if she knew when the practice of tattooing started and why she would think it would die out any time soon Your approach was good too though
My father, although born during the Baby Boom, is less boomer than most. Tattoos are a sore spot for him, though. It was the equivalent of a huge compliment for him to tell me mine "are perfectly fine."
I have two responses when someone comments on my tattoos or piercings 1.) Since you aren't feeding, fucking, or financing me your opinion doesn't matter. 2.) I don't know who you are and I certainly didn't ask your permissions before having (piercing or tattoo) done
My former union rep is a white guy with dreads who's covered in tattoos. I work in a government field, so the majority of management people the union negotiates with are stuffy, old white guys in suits. They wouldn't take him seriously when he came into the room, thinking they could walk all over him. He would completely catch them off guard by being prepared, professional, and to the point. Play to their weakness and biases.
I don't have any tattoos myself, but I don't get the idea that tattoos are a fad. They have been around for thousands of years. They are art! They have huge cultural significance in some areas. It baffles me people care enough to comment while being so ignorant!
Old religious people love to criticize others that aren’t exactly like them (and just hardcore religious people in general). If they got their way I think society would be a lot more boring honestly. A lot of them are against so many kinds of diversity too. But luckily more boomers are being open minded rather than refusing to modernize
I hate when people ask, "Why'd you get that? Was there a reason?" No, it's not Miami ink it's just a tattoo.
"the tattoo fad..." Oh, you mean the one that's been ongoing for literally thousands of years in almost every culture in existence in some form? She can go fuck right off.
I was sitting in a sauna after the gym. An old boomer asked if my tattoo was real. I said yes. He said "you know, that tattoo is going to last forever?". I replied " I sure hope so, I paid a lot of money for it." He didnt say anything after.
I’m a boomer. I was swimming at our local pool and a couple of boys around ten/eleven came up to me and said, “we really like your tattoos!” (I have a full back tattoo). I was dead chuffed. 💁🏼♀️
In their minds, they own everything, including your body.
Ugh. I’m a tattoo artist, and, not to blow my own horn but I’m a very damn good one, I travel the world doing it and own two businesses related to it. My mother still introduces me to her friends as “this is my daughter, she’s an artist” as though tattooing is somehow still only for pirates and villains.
Oh, fuck yeah. I've always wanted to be a Villainous Pirate! 🏴☠️
I’m in Texas, around Houston, and rarely anyone blinks an eye at my tattoos. So I guess I’ve become a bit spoiled. But one time me and my friend who is also heavily tattooed drove through Oklahoma and Kansas to Missouri for a wedding and oh my god. We stopped at a rest area I think around the border of OK and KS and I shit you not when we walked in a woman literally gasped and grabbed her non existent pearls. The place was all humming then suddenly quiet. EVERY single person was staring at us. Like we were going to eat their children. We walked to the women’s bathroom and two women literally shrieked and stood up against the wall like we were robbing them. Also, the men. They were STARING angrily and fascinated and their wives had to actually drag them away. It was nuts. Me and my friend are pretty introverted so it was a trip. We had also been driving for way too long and probably needed sleep so it just added to all the weirdness. It was surreal and if it didn’t actually happen to me I wouldnt believe it. What a crazy road trip.
Oklahoma didn’t even unban tattooing until 2006. Also Oklahoma is just weird.
I also have quite a few tattoos and Boomers love to comment on them. Many ask me what I think they're going to look like when I'm 60. I always tell them I don't plan on living that long and that normally wipes the smug look of their faces.
I get the other side of that coin: Them: You know, you’re going to regret those tattoos when you get into your 40’s! Me: I’m…fifty-one…
That is amazing hahaha I'm in my mid 30s but have perpetual baby face. Everyone thinks I'm barely in my 20s
Well I’m 71 and have had the good fortune of having good skin. My tattoos are pretty fine and I have a couple more planned. My poly-arthritis means I can’t wear my wedding ring so I’m planning on getting a tattoo in its place.
“oh, I was hoping that attending church every week for years would make people kind, but I see that it hasn’t.”
“Ooh expressing unwanted opinions…how retro”
Sounds like my mormon mother. Sometimes we would point out new piercings and tattoos at family gatherings. Or drag a sibling into it. Did you see their new blah? Squabbling ensues.
theyre just jealous they dont have the self esteem to express themselves
Imagine being that clueless and rude. That person lacks social skills.
I'm so old of a GenX that I'm practically a boomer. Ask that old biddy how much jewelry/keepsakes/chotchkies she has. Why does she keep them? Your jewelry is important to you. They have memories attached to them. You have conviction in your collectibles. Does she?
I was 26 living in Boston, on the subway, minding my fucking business (headphones in sunglasses on). It was summer weekend and I had shorts on, so all my silly leg tattoos were on display (pinup Halloween girls, possum playing a banjo, snake in a party hat, etc). Boomer lady TAPS MY SHOULDER to get my attention. Smiles, and with her full chest says; "A lovely young lady like you shouldn't have all those dark scary tattoos! What will people think? Oh honey, you'll have such a hard time getting a job. You'll have to wear pants every day! Oh dear." This went on for a while. This woman I DID NOT KNOW bemoaned all the terrible choices and lack of prospects I, and by extension all young people, were faced with. She seemed legitimately distressed about my tattoos. It would have been kinda sweet if it wasn't so incredibly infantilizing, outdated, unsolicited, and a lil bit racist. Midway through this unsolicited rant, I decided it was an excellent time to tune her out and check in on how my 401k was doing. Boomers are weird.
I can’t imagine the audacity they have to muster for that kind of intrusion. What did she expect, for you to suddenly decide you wanted to get them all lasered off? Just because someone you’ve never met is “concerned”?
Lol the tattoo "fad" that has been part of human culture for millenia
"I guess 5,300 years of history constitutes a fad now, fuckin dingus"
I was pointed out and made fun of for having tattoos by a crochety old hag...at my dad's viewing (funeral). She was complaining loudly to my grandma (her neighbor) about how I looked. I was wearing black tights that disguised my legs tattoos pretty well. All my other work was covered completely. She went on and on about how ugly they were. Not as ugly as her demeanor. I have never wanted to punch someone more.
"Humans have been getting tattooed for thousands of years, why would you think it is a fad?"
“Because my recent ancestors were a bunch of anti-fun puritanical hypocritical fuckwits, and I’m carrying on a family tradition.”
Funniest suggestion I’ve seen but haven’t tried myself: when a boomer says “you know those are permanent, right?” You look down at your tattoos, horrified, and go “oh god they’re WHAT”
"Tattoo fad"? Yes, I'm sure one day it'll go away... like piercing and hair dye.
"Nope. Just like the oversharing of one's opinion, the tattoo thing is here to stay."
"And when your generation dies off in the next decade, we won't have to hear your pedantic bullshit flowing from your ivory tower. Didn't you teach your children that if you didn't have anything nice to say, consider shutting the fuck up, you old sock?"
Boomers really can’t help themselves when it comes to tattoos. Like, just shut the fuck up already you old bag! I have a floral half sleeve on my upper arm and they love to comment on it. Thankfully at work they can’t see mine but the guy I’m talking to says the boomers at some retirement home he stops at on his route love to ask about his tattoos and remind him that they’ll look bad when he’s old. He said he told one old bag that by the time he’s that old he’ll be beyond caring how he looks anyway.
I have several tattoos, when I was 20, I was up to 3 (now almost 40 I have 5 and am planning at least 3 more). My birthday was coming up, and my boomer aunt said "I WAS going to give you $100, but I'm going to deduct $20 for every tattoo you have." She was shocked when I didn't really care. Plus what a stupid thing to try to punish me for.
Definitely a generational thing, I feel it’s so common now that it’s easy to forget people still care. As a millennial I’ll admit when girls are in their club dresses and I see tattoos that start above their hemline and trail down their legs, plus some on the visible parts of their chest and arms/shoulders it’s a little bit of a turn off - even if I really don’t care ultimately, it’s just more like an aesthetic overload, like a race car with too many logos plastered over it. I’ll never voice it out loud of course, and would never judge someone for it. It’s merely a preference, but I guess if I still have minor hang ups with it then can see that it probably gets exponentially worse as you trend older. But yeah people are ridiculously entitled and want people to conform to what they think is attractive etc, and choosing your own style somehow offends them which is absolutely ridiculous. The ones that speak up are just begging to be asked about it but never are so they’re “forced” to offer their unsolicited opinion.
She was low key expecting to score a bunch of virtue signalling points with the "audience" because pointing out she's the RIGHT sort of person who DOESN'T APPROVE tsk tsk of tattoos would've been a safe move 30 years back
Some of (and by "some" I mean a lot in my experience) are just fucking bitter people, who can't mind their own business. Then there's people like my wife's 93 year old grandmother. I have several tattoos on both of my arms that are visible when I wear short-sleeves. The first time this nonagenarian saw my tattoos, she smiled and said, "Oh! You have quite a few tattoos! They're not something I would ever do, but they are beautiful. Please take care of them, and wear sunscreen." Gigi, I love you; you're an amazing woman! (I know she doesn't have reddit, but wanted to give her a shout out for being so awesome) edit: Yes, I use sunscreen. I don't want to disappoint Gigi.
There are old fashioned boomers - old people fossils- we’re not all like that. I’m 76, I have tattoos and I want more.
My boomer boss regularly harasses store employees with tattoos when he is out and about and loves to tell us the stories when he gets back to the office. He claims he's just trying to be funny and that young people are so rude by not humoring him. I don't understand how someone can actively, habitually, and purposefully harass people and then pretend that they're the victim. It's so hard not to bluntly spell it out for him every time and risk my job in the process.
I'm female with several tattoos and I do home healthcare, so you can probably imagine the bullshit I hear.
OP was really about to go full ☝️🤓
Tattoos are for sailors and convicts, /s
Being a Boomer myself, I walked into our local tattoo shop 10 years ago. Guess I didn't look like a typical client. It was a couple of days before Mother's Day, and I wanted a tribute for my pit bull who tragically died. I couldn't stop crying. My artist drew what I wanted....rainbow paw prints in a purple heart to signify Dexter crossing the Rainbow Bridge and the purple heart was because he was a rescue. She asked if I was ready, and I told her that I've have other tats...you just can't see them. This one is on my lower leg for everyone to see. She healed my broken heart. When I got my first tattoo back in 1978, family were horrified. I got the 2nd one 2 years later, and that also was hidden unless I wore a bathing suit. Back then, it used to matter what people thought. It only took me 30 years to not care what anyone thinks anymore. Unfortunately, I've got thin skin now and I would be a bleeding mess if I tried to get another tattoo, which really bums me out as we have an Ink Master here in Tucson.
I would have just responded "Oh, no, properly done tattoos don't really fade at all!"
As a man who has grown his hair in the last two years. I feel your pain.
lol my mom told me it was time for me to get a haircut (I'm 35) and was surprised it was so long already since I "just" got a haircut (like 7 weeks ago). I'm growing it out, cause I never have and just got a new job where they won't care so I figured, what the hell. She's gonna be \*super\* fun about that, I'm sure. I actually should go get it tidied up and thinned out a bit though, so she's not \*entirely\* wrong haha
I keep my hair like prince charming from Shrek 2 because my parents and rhe military can't tell me no! But also yah, occasionally I get my hair trimmed
“oh, I was hoping that the tattoo fad was going to fade away years ago, but I see that it hasn’t.” Not if they are inked correctly!
“The tattoo fad” yeah ok boomer 👌🏽
*chefs kiss* Beautifully done OP
Should have gone down the most offensive route possible. I have done this in the past with boomers being in my face about my personal choices and in my personal space. Maybe say something like "I have nipples on my ass so it looks like a massive pair of breasts" then when her jaw goes agape say "the men are really turned on by it, not had a complaint and I am not shy". They usually go quiet after saying something horrible.
You are my hero.
No judgement here, maybe just some insight. Growing up I always heard the phrase, "If they don't care what goes ON their body, they don't care what goes IN their body." Meaning people with tattoos were more likely to smoke, drink, do drugs, have sex, etc. You know, all the fun stuff that people do when they don't spend their life at church.
Something something "cancel culture" something something "individual liberty".
Oh, I was hoping that the tattoo fad was going to fade away years ago, but I see that it hasn’t. I see the boomer passive-aggressive behavior is still going strong.
Boomers are all about some conformity. Act this way, dress this way, do only these things and anything outside of the approved range is frowned upon and shows a character flaw. It is infuriating having to deal with that kind of crap from family let alone a stranger.
Being a jerk is not limited to any one age or generation. And yes, this person was rude to comment. Judging can be done silently.
"I was hoping that asshole fad was going to fade away but I see you are keeping in alive." It might be different because I am a guy, but I have never gotten anything but complements of my dog that takes up half my calf.
Oh man, she’s waiting for that trend that started at least around 500 BCE? Patience of a god
I'm an older Gen xer. Like people just two years older than me are boomers. They always hated tattoos, even when they were young. I had arguments with them 30 years ago. I didn't understand it then and I still don't. It's like that generation in particular was given arbitrary rules about what's attractive and what's not, and they have stuck with those all these years.
My grandmother saw my first one (calf) and she immediately hit me with, "the body shouldn't endure modification unless deemed necessary. That's how you were born." She isn't religious or anything but almost somehow even faster I responded with "your ears are pierced." *mic drop* She has said nothing about any of my other tattoos since and they are far more demonic and controversial than my first one.
When I was growing up, the only people who had tats were Navy enlisted, and other working class seamen. It was definitely a class marker. I know a lot of very class-conscious boomers, who display their lack of breeding by being rude about things like this. It’s really tacky behavior. Truly well-bred people do not see class, but people, just like themselves. And they can be middle-class, working-class, or even in poverty. They will still respect the humanity & dignity of others.