Image: Kymberlie Dozois Photography / Image Source / Getty Images
About This Quiz
The practice of tattooing is likely as old as humankind. Tattoos have been found on the bodies of Egyptian mummies, for example. Given the age of this practice, it's not surprising that tattoos have come to mean a variety of different things. Historically, they can represent rank or status in the member of a tribe, or a specific role in a clan (e.g., shaman). Some peoples created tattoos to memorialize their dead, and other early cultures believed that tattoos provided protection from evil. Later, tattoos came to symbolize belonging: to a specific Army unit, for example, or criminal gang. Perhaps most recent is the secular, Western view ... that tattoos are simply a good way to express individual personality.Â
The practice of tattooing, though, comes with baggage. In many parts of the world, including America, they have long been associated with blue-collar status, lack of education, antisocial behavior and even crime. To be fair, this is because tattoos were first adopted in the West by working-class sailors, then by bikers. However, as early as the 1920s, Winston Churchill's American mother, Jennie Jerome, had a tattoo of a snake around her wrist. Daring!Â
Tattoos carry some risk, as well. You might know that you should seek out a clean shop and an artist who is currently on his or her bloodborne-pathogen certification. But what many people don't realize is that tattoo ink itself is far less regulated, with inks being found to contain heavy metals and even carcinogens!
Despite the drawbacks, tattooing is never going to die out, so why not be educated about this fascinating human art? We've got a quiz to help you sort out the truth from the misconceptions — and unlike actually getting tattooed, there's no aftercare!
What is a "sleeve"?
A tattoo that covers a whole arm
A sleeve often goes from shoulder to wrist; the hand is often left un-tattooed. Less often, the term is used to refer to a design that covers the whole leg, even though "sleeves," in the sense of clothing, only cover arms, not legs.
A tattoo of all one color
A protective cover for a tattoo gun
A tube of tattoo ink
Advertisement
In modern, Western culture, which group was the first to take to tattooing in a big way?
Actors
Clergy
Prostitutes
Sailors
The link here is to Polynesia and the voyages of Captain James Cook. British sailors were exposed to and liked the islanders' tattoos, and began to imitate them. Before long, port cities became hotbeds of tattooing — if you wanted one but lived inland, you'd have to travel to a coast.
Advertisement
Tattooing is part of which larger field?
Biohacking
Body modification
Tattoo artists and tattoo enthusiasts are part of the larger community, or subculture, of body modification. Other forms of body modification include piercing, tooth blackening and neck stretching, that last one accomplished by multiple choker-like rings.
Dermabrasion
Grafting
Advertisement
When did the use of tattoos in body identification cease to be a forensic practice?
The 1920s
The 1960s
The 1980s
It never stopped.
Like dental work or surgical implants, tattoos are still useful to medical and law-enforcement personnel in identifying bodies at disaster sites, or when a dead body is found without identification. The usefulness of this technique depends on the state of the body. It's not very useful among burn victims.
Advertisement
Which of these is a form of tattooing?
Nail art
Medical biopsies
Permanent cosmetics
Permanent cosmetics is a niche form of makeup, providing eyeliner or lipstick that will never fade or wash off. (Which must make the process of choosing the right color kind of scary!) At its core, it is a form of tattooing.
Liposuction
Advertisement
Which language does the word "tattoo" itself come from?
French
Hebrew
Polynesian
"Tattoo" is derived from a Polynesian word meaning "to mark." We say "Polynesian" because the word "tatau" is shared by Tahitani, Samoan and several other languages that are generally similar to each other.
Zambian
Advertisement
Historically, an important use of sailors' tattoos was ... ?
Appeal to women in taverns and pubs
Body identification after a shipwreck
Sailors likely got tattoos for the same variety of reasons that most other people do: bonding with a group, honoring a wife or family member, personal expression, and so on. But when sailors were swept overboard with no ID, or a ship went down, these tattoos were helpful in identifying the bodies and getting them home for a proper burial.
Peer bonding
Prevention of sunburn
Advertisement
What do good tattoo artists sterilize their equipment with?
An autoclave
An autoclave is a machine that sterilizes any kind of metal equipment that is used on the body. A combination of heat and pressure kills microbes that could, potentially, spread disease.
An automat
A dishwasher
Wiping with bleach solution
Advertisement
Dermabrasion, salt abrasion and cryosurgery are all methods of what?
Prepping the skin for tattooing
Preserving the colors of a tattoo
Pale-color tattooing
Tattoo removal
Lasers are becoming the most common way to remove tattoos, but the other three methods preceded that. In criminal subcultures, the methods are harsher. That is, people who wear gang tattoos without earning them, or who turn state's witness, often suffer having the tattoo cut or burned off their skin.
Advertisement
What is "flash"?
Pre-printed tattoo designs
The designs that you see on parlor walls are called "flash," and sometimes they are copyrighted. They can serve as starting points for an individual design that the customer and artist think up together, or, if the customer doesn't want a personalized tattoo, they can choose a piece of flash outright.
Tattoos that cover a whole body part
A tattoo with bioluminescent particles that sparkle
A tattoo with nanoparticles that move
Advertisement
Which of these is a NOT a purpose that tattoos have served, historically?
To denote devotion to a god
To indicate coming of age
To deviate from society's expectations
All of these have been reasons.
There are too many reasons behind this practice to list them all here. "Deviation from society's expectations" might sound like a modern one, but consider upper-class British women in the 19th century, who sometimes chose to have ink done for this reason.
Advertisement
What is the coloring agent in a mehndi tattoo?
Capsicum
Henna
Technically, "mehndi tattoo" is redundant; mehndi is a form of tattooing created in India. In the West, it usually goes by the name "henna tattoo." We're glad it's not capsaicin ... that's the active ingredient in hot peppers, and would be quite painful
Ox musk
Blackberry
Advertisement
One of these religions forbids tattooing. Which is it?
Coptic Christianity
Hinduism
Judaism
Torah forbids "making gashes in the flesh to honor the dead" (which, as we've noted elsewhere, is still a common reason to get a tattoo.) As with many prohibitions in Leviticus, this one seems to be intended to differentiate the Hebrews from the surrounding pagan peoples, who had traditions of memorial tattooing.
Wicca
Advertisement
When Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder split up, how did he deal with his "Winona Forever" tattoo?
He had it removed with dermabrasion.
He made it part of a mandala tattoo.
He made it part of a Hand of Fatima tattoo.
He changed it to read "Wino Forever."
This is one of the cleverest reworkings of an unwanted tattoo that we've heard of. He evidently hasn't fallen out with his mother, as her "Betty Sue" tattoo, inside a heart shape, remains intact.
Advertisement
Yantra tattooing is a practice started by which people?
Berber
Buddhist
More specifically, yantra tattooing began among the Khmer people of Southeast Asia. Yantra tattoos were believed to confer good luck and protect the bearer from evil. They are often geometric or symbolic designs.
Celtic
Nahuatl
Advertisement
What is behind the stigma against tattoos in Japan?
They are considered unhealthful.
They are considered "Western."
They are associated with poorer Southeast Asia nations.
They are associated with criminals.
More specifically, tattoos were a sign of the yakuza, or the organized crime syndicate in Japan. Some yakuzas (as a noun, it can mean an individual member) have full-body tattoos. Japanese tattooing is known, overall, as "irezumi."
Advertisement
What is the name for the instrument that makes the tattoo?
Gun
Iron
Machine
All of these are used.
"Machine" is probably the most commonly used term, as well as the most generic. Some artists use the word "iron," and a few others "gun." However, the last term is increasingly unpopular with artists.
Advertisement
One of these is NOT a reality show based on tattooing. Which is it?
Tattoo Fixers
Tattoo Titans
Just Tattoo of Us
Pet ink, Inc.
Although "Just Tattoo of Us" sounds made up, it was a real show that debuted in 2017 on MTV. In it, couples (or pairs or friends) design a tattoo for each other, which is then applied at the Just Tattoo of Us parlor in London. Each person must get the tattoo designed for him or her, sight unseen. It's a leap of faith!
Advertisement
A rose tattoo on the chest is common in what organized crime syndicate?
The Italian mafia
Mara Salvatrucha
The Russian mafia
Russian organized crime has perhaps the largest catalog of tattoo iconography. A rose on the chest often denotes a new recruit, while stars on the knees says that tattoed man "will kneel to no one."
The Yakuza
Advertisement
Tattoos can interfere with what medical practice?
Blood draws
Chemotherapy
MRIs
There's a reason why people don't wear metal jewelry in MRI tubes -- the metal reacts to the powerful magnet. Metals in tattoo ink have the same effect. They can cause discomfort for the tattooed person, and they can also cause "interference" in the imaging.
Vaccinations
Advertisement
Which part of the skin is tattoo ink applied to?
The dermis
The dermis is the layer of skin just under the outside one, the one we can touch. Tattooing the epidermis, or outer layer, would result in a tattoo that quickly faded away (like the temporary ones you get at fairs, for example).
The epidermis
The epithalamus
The subcutaneous fat
Advertisement
Tattoo ink will never contain what?
Chromium
Cobalt
Nickel
Any kind of metal
Ink has been found to contain all of these.
All of these potentially toxic heavy metals have been found in the lymph nodes of tattooed people at autopsy. Furthermore, a study by Denmark's Environmental Protection Agency found that 1 in 5 bottles of tattoo ink contained known carcinogens. Does this mean tattoos are unsafe? Probably not. It just puts a new light on "vegan-with-a-tattoo" syndrome.
Advertisement
Where does Christianity stand on tattooing?
It firmly opposes it.
It encourages art with Christian designs.
Ummm ....
Need to Know Dept: Many early Christians got cross tattoos until Pope Adrian I banned tattoos in the year 787. Some Christian denominations suggest that the prohibition in Leviticus 19 applies to today's Christians, not just the Hebrews of the time. Others have no strong feeling either way on tattooing.
Advertisement
Victoria Beckham famously had the words "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" tattooed on her back. Where are they from?
A Beatles song
A fortune cookie
Song of Solomon in the Bible
This is Song of Solomon 6:3. Beckham has the words, in Hebrew, tattooed down her back from the nape of her neck. It is considerably faded now, suggesting that she might have had treatments to remove it.
T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"
Advertisement
Can tattooing be accidental?
Yes
This is also called "traumatic tattooing." When miners have accidents that break the skin, coal dust often gets inside, creating permanent dark markings. A similar thing can happen when a person is stabbed with a pen, and ink gets into the wound.
No
Advertisement
In gang/organized crime culture, what does a teardrop tattoo represent?
A death of a close friend
A murder
A stay in prison
Any of these
While some people will insist that the teardrop tattoo, usually just under the eye, always means the bearer has killed someone, it isn't necessarily true. Prison terms or deaths of a close friend are also reasons for this kind of marking.
Advertisement
The modern tattoo machine was based on an invention by whom?
Ada Lovelace
Thomas Edison
Edison invented an electric pen. This was the basis for the tattoo machine, which uses disposable needles to deposit ink on the dermis. Samuel O'Reilly patented an actual tattoo machine later, in 1891.
Leonardo daVinci
Nikola Tesla
Advertisement
Which corporate logo was based on the chain's founder's tattoo?
Nike
McDonalds
Macy's
The Macy's red star is one of the more recognizable logos in the world. Rowland Hussey Macy, the founder, used to be a sailor, and he had a tattoo of a red star on his hand.
Starbucks
Advertisement
Which of these U.S. states banned tattoos from the 1960s to the 2000s?
Alabama
Connecticut
Oklahoma
What did Oklahoma have against tattooing, which was banned from 1963 to 2006? We're not sure, but an Oklahoma lawmaker's opinion sheds an interesting light. In an article in the Tulsa World about legalization, a state representative said he worried that the economy would suffer, because of a general prejudice against tattoos. More tattooed people meant more unemployed people, in his eyes.
Oregon
Advertisement
Theodore Roosevelt was believed to have what inked on his chest?
An eagle
A lion
The word "Mom" in a heart
The Roosevelt family crest
It's said that both man's man "T.R." and his nephew Franklin Delano Roosevelt had this tattoo. It's fun to theorize that it was some sort of secret symbol, like you'd see in a movie ... but as far as we know, Roosevelts identified themselves by leading big, swaggering lives and changing the world, not by flashing secret tattoos.
Advertisement
What is "black work"?
Creating the outline of the tattoo
This is an introductory step in the process of tattooing. After creating the outline, an artist will fill in the color. Don't confuse this term with a "blackwork tattoo," which *is* a tattoo using only black ink, usually in bold geometric patterns.
Doing an all-black or dark blue tattoo
Creating a tattoo in honor of a dead person
Running a parlor where tattooing is illegal
Advertisement
True or false: Nazi Germany was the only nation to use forcible tattooing for identification.
True
False
The tattooing of slaves and prisoners has been common throughout human history. In the Roman empire, slaves would be tattooed with a message "I am a runaway" in case they escaped. It's not only civilizations that have permitted this: Today, forcible tattooing of prostitutes, to connote "ownership," is a part of human trafficking.
Advertisement
Which of these singers has a tattoo of a rose on her toe?
Lady Gaga
Jewel
Mandy Moore
Singer and actress Moore has said about her decision to get inked, "It was my way of being a rebellious rock star. It didn't really work." We wish all celebrities had such disarming honesty!
Barbra Streisand
Advertisement
Which of these is the most important qualification of a tattoo artist?
A large selection of "flash" art
Good infection-control procedures
All of these things are of value in the operation of a tattoo parlor. However, your first priority should be not getting an infectious disease from the equipment. A good tattoo artist should be able to show you certification that indicates they are up-to date on their blood-borne pathogens training.
A knowledge of Asian characters and the Latin language
A steady hand
Advertisement
Which of these actresses has the name "Norman" tattooed on her foot?
Jennifer Aniston
Aniston's tattoo is a tribute to her dog, who died in 2011. The other actresses listed above all have ink as well; Johansson's most recent is evidently a pattern of roses on her back.
Sandra Bullock
Scarlet Johansson
Anne Hathaway
Advertisement
You Got:
/35
Kymberlie Dozois Photography / Image Source / Getty Images