"Tramp stamp"

Butterfly on my hip,had it for twenty+ yrs,look's like a cabbage leaf when I put on weight though.(its back to normal at the moment)

I haven't got any!

No - but I bet there'll be a few embarrassed grans in about 30 years, judging by the number and awfulness of the tattoos I see on so many young women these days!!

I don't have any tattoos but my daughter had some fairly bog standard thing done in London when she was in her teens, much against my wishes. Since then, she has moved to New Zealand where tattoos have a deeper cultural significance. She's had the bog standard (barbed wire?) prettified but has also had her own design tattooed. It is in Irish Gaelic, which she had to research in considerable detail, and is about the strength of the family bond. (We have Irish ancestry.) I don't really like tattoos, but was quite touched by this one.

No I haven't - hate them! Older Daughter (the naughty one) has several and a chavvy lifestyle Younger Daughter (the good girl) doesnt. Not my fault I didnt bring the older one up!!!

I haven't,more because of low pain threshold, I'm a cowardy custard and haven't even had my ears pierced. But good daughter has a little butterfly on her hip, she never put a foot wrong when she was young,and decided at thirty she ought to do something vaguely daring! Naughtier daughter never had one, felt with her luck she would get blood poisoning.

I don't have any.

I did think of having one for my 50th but chickened out.

I've considered it but lack the confidence and am worried about infection having survived one of those terrible hospital bugs several years ago. I've had my ears pierced though and love wearing dangly earrings. I get quite daring around Christmas with my earrings

glassortwo ...what did you think about having?

Did, at one time, wonder about a wee butterfly ...they were the rage ...but decided I didn't want the pain. Never had my ears pierced either.

Will not say what my mother thought of girls who did though! Probably one of the reasons I eventually opted not too.

jacey a tiny baby elephant,but the size of my behind it would have got lost

I saw an item on TV the other day about an elderly woman who had 'do not resuscitate' tattooed on her chest, just in case the occasion should arise. I think I will content myself with an advance directive. I don't like putting myself through unnecessary suffering!

Jacey My mother was horrified when I had my ears pierced and said "What have you done? You have mutilated your body. Only gypsies have pierced ears." The only response I could come up with, at the age of 17, was "The queen has pierced ears". [tongue sticky-out emoticon] My father, on the other hand, just asked "Would you like some earrings for your birthday?" In later life my mum actually congratulated me on having had my ears pierced as she had just lost one of a particularly lovely pair of earrings.

Yes ...people's views on things do change over time What was once unthought of ...becomes common practice.

I wonder how many of have had to hold our tongues when gc arrive with tattoos and body piercings!!

I had one as a minor rebellious act when I was 55, a small blue bird on my lower back, that only one man, and my gds have seen! As I don't see it normally, it doesn't bother me at all!

I have a small ( 1.5cm diameter) spiral on my left upper arm. It has symbolic resonance for me.

I had one while on holiday when I was forty. It is on the back of my left shoulder and it is of a rose and two feathers, native American style. No -one knows it is there unless I choose to tell or show them , it was just something i wanted to do for myself, a little mid-life rebellion maybe!

When my daughter was much younger she wanted a tattoo, I was against this but as she was very strong-willed I said, "Oh good idea, I'd love one - we could go together"............complete silence and I never heard another word.....she's 34 now and still no tattoo

My lovely daughter was an extravagantly pierced teenager, (ears, face and body), and had a tattooed stomach. 18 years later she's reduced the metalwork - the ones in her nipples were taken out prior to birth of first child as she was planning to breastfeed and she got fed up with most of the others - but there are quite a few tiny holes left!
I've always hankered after a tattoo somewhere not too visible, an Aubrey Beardsley or Charles Rennie Mackintosh design, maybe, but have never been quite brave enough. Wish I had her courage!

Seeing I fainted when I had my ears pierced I think a tattoo would be unwise.

Isn't "tramp stamp" a horrible expression? I'd not heard it before reading this thread.

Twobabes Not a lovely phrase, certainly. I think it is applied specifically to a tattoo positioned on the back just above the buttocks, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for that, absent. I wonder if my GD1 would ever talk to me again if I told her that...

Had a dragon tattoo on my right arm, had it done at 40 also had my belly button pierced! never regreted either, both my daughters have tattoos too and eldest son. think they look good if done right.