Thats an unwritten rule. Never ask the meaning of the nautical stars. Broadly, it's about a safe return home or keeping your direction in life. But specifically, people tend to get these for very fucked up reasons, and the conversation is just better avoided. Like, "i do <insert bad thing>, and dont really intend to stop, but these star tattoos remind me to try to follow the right path".
I suppose subconsciously I've always thought of the piss guzzler being stonked on meth, rather than the piss giver. Thank you u/PissOnYourParade for broadening my horizons.
Its truly a horrible addiction and genuinely sticks to everything too. Ive seen towels in a laundry room that was consistently smoked in literally form small crystals that glittered when light hits it . You will cough up flem and see it in ur spit. You will sweat and it will literally come out with it. Your piss as well as u mentioned. Just dont do meth kids, ever. It leads to nowhere but misery and once you realize its become a problem in your life, the damage is already done and cant easily be repaired.
It excretes almost all of it. And it doesn't break down in the environment. Public water sources in South Florida have a measurable amount of methamphetamine in them.
Seafarer here. Nautical star represents Polaris, or the north star. Its all about finding your way home.
During the 90s/00s they were popularised by emo/nu metal music. Became synonymous with the genre so people just got them because they looked cool and represented their crowd. Maybe symbolises some kind of struggle for some people, in which you're lost and find your way back to yourself.
People definitely do get them for lots of reasons. Including no meaning, they just saw it in a book and thought it looked cool. But in general asking about them is a minefield where you'll often suddenly be in an awkward conversation where a complete stranger is oversharing about their personal demons.
I used to go to this Subway where the guy had a large scorpion tattooed on his neck and up into his face. I went there enough that we were friendly acquaintances so eventually I asked "Is that cuz you're a scorpio?" and he goes, "No, it's cuz I'm a fucking dumbass"
I love when people ask the meaning of my tattoos. It's usually like, "that's for my folks, that one is my dog that died, that one is my favorite hockey team, the other 10? I had 200 bucks and a couple of hours of free time
Right I totally understand where you’re coming from. I got mine so long ago idk the reasoning but I know the reason. That’s ok tho casue they all mean something to me whether it makes sense or not.
I have a tribal "C" on one upper arm and that's what I tell people as well. "Here is an awesome sleeve I put a ton of time into and thought about it very carefully and got it all done when I was in my late 30s. And here's one I got off of the random wall of flash art the day I turned 18 in the year 2000 after thinking about it for 5 minutes".
I'm getting it covered up with a crescent moon whenever I start working on my other arm sleeve soon, but it's a good conversation piece/warning whenever someone brings up wanting tattoos.
Rather tham ask the meaning, tell them all about polaris and celestial navigation instead. Then they might have to get another nautical star to get over the trauma of that conversation.
Popular tattoo culture is so fucked. You can start a fight over guns vs machines, also theyre supposed to be deeply personal but also people cover their mouths and giggle like old ladies gossiping about single mothers at church.
I have a nautical star on my shoulder I got after basic. No real rhyme or reason, I just liked it and wanted someone to symbolize that period in my life. My other tattoo is a scorpion on my arm, same stuff though it matches my life at that point a little better.
Lol absolutely. If someone asks "does that tattoo have any significance to you?" they are expecting something like "oh yes, i got this tattoo to celebrate learning a second language" or something equally harmless. Not "this star is my guiding light that reminds me that im still a good person even though ive stolen every TV my mom bought over the last decade to support my addiction to buying feet pics online." One is oversharing, and it's important you know the difference.
I have a nautical star belt buckle and the reason i have it is… i found it at a yard sale and I needed something red for an outfit for the band I was in. Now it’s my tuba-playin’ belt buckle. 📯
"Because it looked cool," is a way more common tattoo meaning than people want to admit.
I get real annoyed at the people who think there's some deep meaning to everything and that you can't just ask. Maybe don't ask strangers, but you can ask people you know why they got their tattoo.
Former and current emo kid here. Yeah, everyone got these. They have no meaning for anyone in the scene. I doubt 99/100 people with them tattooed even know that they are/were nautical stars.
Those even less in the know probably think it has something to do with Converse.
I came up during the 00. Was very close to getting one of these. Simply because I saw them on other musicians and famous people. Luckily I got something else.
The blue nautical star was used in the 50s and 60s in Buffalo and western New York in the lesbian scene to signal to other lesbians that they were family. Specifically it would go on a butch's left wrist where a watch would lay. The watch would cover it during the day and it would come off at night when they were in the bars.
Absolutely. Because it was a big of a trashy trend of a tattoo. It was just dumb kids copying each other. And it was extremely common. That's what the meme is about, not some hidden shame nautical whatever at the top of the thread.
That's why nautical star tattoos were very popular with IV drug users in the mid 20th century. (Along with the symbolism, they were also used to cover up bruising on injection sites).
Traditionally, didn't they mean you got into(or won) a bar fight in a foreign port? Red and green, representing lights on a ship meaning to "give way".
Red on your Right when Returning. In general in Maritime practices, red and green help establish how to avoid obstacles and other ships, yes. I dont know about any particular traditions with the navy about barfights and getting one though.
Back in the 19th century the Red Polaris tattoo was common for whalers that had worked in the North Atlantic. Rowland Macy had one that became the symbol of the Macy brand.
I remember 3 years ago I met an old dude in Netherlands and he had 2 of these tattoos on his chest, he showed me and then told me not to ask why he made them. At that time I didn't think much of it and now I see this random
There was a friend of a friend on my Facebook feed years ago. Nice looking woman, with a... large chest. Maybe in her late 30s. She always posted pictures of her cleavage so, heh, why not leave her.
One day there is a post from her, with TWO huge star tattoos like this on her chest, one above each boob about 5" across. They looked silly. They were SO big. I never bothered to ask or looked into what they meant, so I just unfriended her. She served no purpose anymore as a random person in my feed. She went from "random woman in my feed with big boobs" to "random woman with giant star tattoos on her chest".
I had a girlfriend who had one on her lower back. I'm not sure what she was trying to steer away from, but it apparently wasn't "Sucking most of her guy friend's cocks." or "Leaving her phone unlocked with pictures of her sucking her guy friend's 9" pierced cock on it."
That would be the <insert bad thing> for her. If I were to scour her socials how likely would I be to find a "if you cant handle me at worst, you dont deserve me at my best" post? Sorry it messed you up, brother, but youre definitely better off now. And most women are nothing like that.
I have one tattoo, its this tattoo with my daughter's name next to it. my best friend who hung himself, that i happened to see hanging in a garage, had this tattoo all over his body. He was my daughter's "God father". Maybe some questions are better left un-asked.
I've never heard this meaning before, historically leabians and bi women wore it to convertly signal to other wlw. That's why my bi mom had it and part of why I got it after her passing (most of it was as a memorial, it was her most recognizable tattoo if you knew her).
Thats mad. I've only ever known it to be eastern European prison tattoos. People had them on their elbows and knees and its meant to mean you don't bend (as in to authority).
Sailors in times past, used to use these tattoos to identify if your body was for sale or not. Sailors could find people with this tattoo and expect to pay for a good time.
I got this tattoo since when I was a kid these were “rockstars” since they were all over guitar hero and I thought it looked sick, and I got it in one of my favorite colors! I can’t wait to get the other one on my other shoulder! But yeah most people don’t have the same reason as me
We used to make fun of people with extraordinary numbers of graves and stars. It became a saying with our clique. Like, when someone found a fiver in the street: „cool, found some money! Going to get a star tattoo at once!“ or „damn I stubbed my toe. Here comes another gravestone tattoo.“
Or: Hell yeah, my favorite toilet paper just got reduced in price! Let’s get another Star!“
It's because like so many tattoos (armbands in the 90s, tramp stamp in the 2000s, Asian characters in the inner forearm) millions upon millions of cigarette smoking teens got the exact tattoo, basically at the same time, and it's just dating, over exposed, and cringe for many people of that age.
The guy in the meme isn't grateful that he didn't get a nautical tattoo that secretly expresses he did terrible things and doesn't regret it. What? He's grateful he didn't get a support common tattoo that most people regret now. This is the inherent problem with getting any popular tattoo, let alone the exact same one 5 of your friends have.
Lmao sometimes the amount of random misinformation on anonymous message boards...
I knew this girl who got nautical stars tattooed in honor of her grandfather who had them because he was a sailor. Like right after she got them the trend started and she always felt the need to over explain her tattoos anytime someone saw them
The thing I heard was lesbians got them on their wrists- easily hidden under a watch in a work environment, but could be used to id them as lesbian in social settings. However, I read this online and never heard this from any of the lesbians I know, so it may not be true
Dealt with a very smug old guy in the academy who finally caused a lady to yell out, "why don't you tell us what that star on your calf means then?" He looked at us, put on a smile, and walked away. I've been wondering what these stars meant since.
"... killing that man over which gum is better, juicy fruit or spearmint, wasn't ma best idea... in hindsight. Those stars remind me daily how hard it was to get back on track... But we can agree it's spearmint, right?"
I can’t tell if you’re just making this up and creating lore for a secret society of tattoo bearers I’ve never heard of or noticed before, or if they’re such a successful culture they’re blending in infront of my eyes.
Am I not supposed to ask about people’s semicolon tattoos too? How am I to know the length of their colon without that chat?
This is what I find very funny about tattoo culture in general. It runs the gamut from extremely personal and meaningful to “I just thought it would be funny to tattoo this penis on me”
I have a black and red one behind my arm...was supposed to get dual ones but my buddy getting his first tattoo didn't have enough money, so I gave him some and then I didn't. I just like the design lmao it does not mean anything
As someone that’s worked in a tattoo shop in a military town for 14 years, I back this 100%. You learn what a lot of things mean overtime. BUT like a lot of other traditional tattoos, the nautical star had its moment lol. They aren’t really popular anymore and rarely ever requested. If it is, more often than not it’s someone in the Navy.
•
u/Typedeal22 4d ago
People used to get these tattooed.