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".
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.
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u/Rymanbc 4d ago
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".