Comments on: Chi-Tonw. You read that right. Want a tattoo?

Chi-Tonw. You read that right. Want a tattoo?

Mo Nickels — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:16:30 -0800

Two years ago, a mistake was made: The tattoo read "Chi-Tonw" instead of "Chi-Town." Now, in an act of solidarity, more people are getting tattos spelled Chi-Tonw on purpose. This fellow had it spelled that way on his neck. Chicago Tribune news and blog coverage, and audio on NPR.

By: The Giant Squid

The Giant Squid — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:24:18 -0800

I am inclined to believe this is one of the best things I've ever read on the Blue. Thanks.

By: Bighappyfunhouse

Bighappyfunhouse — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:27:11 -0800

Chicago My Chicago I weep for thee

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:27:12 -0800

Great googily moogily....

By: edgeways

edgeways — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:27:48 -0800

Teh internets ruin everyone's spelling eventually.

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:30:30 -0800

Truly the Third Costa.

By: thebigdeadwaltz

thebigdeadwaltz — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:32:45 -0800

PLS TAG: batshitinsane Everyone went wrong here. The tattoo artist messed up the spelling, the tattooee messed up by not checking the art going onto his body. Who knows how the court will rule on this.

By: lostburner

lostburner — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:37:03 -0800

That tattoo artist messed up pretty badly. I'm surprised he didn't lose all his business. It would have been more or less just. Though the client wasn't alert (or literate?) enough to notice the error during the tattooing or even at all until "My wife said - she just saw it and she said you spelled it wrong," he was still a "gentleman in the summer" and deserved better. Perhaps he deserves a more literate lawyer, as well. All of the lawyer's comments in that article are mispunctuated to the point of losing meaning. I wonder if that's the reporter's fault. Poor Mr. Duplessis is surrounded by them. Good thing he's got his wife in his corner.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:45:25 -0800

Teh internets ruin everyone's spelling eventually. Yes, we noticed. ;-)

By: django_z

django_z — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:53:39 -0800

I ask you: When will he be whole?!!!! I dunno $6 million...maybe $7 million. I think that oughta do it. (thank god i didn't get a law degree so that I'm not associated with the dipshit lawyer in that article)

By: m@L

m@L — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:58:00 -0800

I have a number of friends who are tattoo artists. EVERY time they do lettering they make the person getting tattooed check it multiple times to make sure it is spelled properly. I'm guessing this guy approved it before it went on his chest. It's his own damn fault.

By: quin

quin — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:10:41 -0800

Yeah, I fault the guy not the tattooist. His job is to fill in the lines with great precision, not spell-check. Though I love hearing stories like this, I remember years ago being told about a boyfriend of someone's sister or something, who was trying to do his own version of Phil Anselmo's tattoo. Basically he wanted "Scarred", Unfortunately he didn't make himself clear to the tattooist and he got "Scared". Which I always thought was about the best thing ever.

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:12:07 -0800

I guess every rose has it's thorn.

By: matty

matty — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:18:27 -0800

It's been seen before, but hey - it's appropriate!! Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe.

By: rob511

rob511 — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:20:53 -0800

Mornos.

By: ninjew

ninjew — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:26:09 -0800

Personally, I can't stand the phrase 'Chi-town'. It's annoyed me for as long as I've lived here.

By: davebush

davebush — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:27:21 -0800

Someone once told me about a guy who had "Dicipline" on his stomach.

By: nerdcore

nerdcore — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:28:13 -0800

huh. and I thought it was a good thing that I saved my friend from getting his last name tattooed with the last letter missing. Too bad this guy didn't bring his wife with him.

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:37:34 -0800

After the Chicago Tribune wrote several stories on what some jokingly call "Chi-Tonw-gate, That must be difficult to talk about at the watercooler because I'm not sure how to pronounce this. Ki-tawn-whu? Shy-toe-nuwa? They want it spelled C-H-I-T-O-N-W." Without the hyphan, it makes me think of some mutant insect.

By: eriko

eriko — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:38:53 -0800

Personally, I can't stand the phrase 'Chi-town'. It's annoyed me for as long as I've lived here. That's because it isn't hyphenated, downstater.

By: Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:49:54 -0800

The specific tattoo was on the chest of Michael Duplessis, and it was spelled C-H-I-T-O-N-W, which has no actual meaning. I'm glad the article emphasised this point. I wouldn't have realised, otherwise.

By: bhouston

bhouston — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:56:18 -0800

stupid trend. nuf said.

By: 1-2punch

1-2punch — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:09:59 -0800

is lionizing stupidity one of the signs of the end of days? or just the fall of rome?

By: ddf

ddf — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:16:51 -0800

The fuck: "It doesn't represent the vision of the permanent tattoo he wanted on his chest for the rest of his life," he said. "So he is not a person who is whole."

By: docpops

docpops — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:16:59 -0800

Reminds me of the jailhouse tat I saw in the ED on a guy that took up his entire midsection, and looked like a dustcloud of errant ink, below which was "Ma ass buhlongs on a harley". This is great.

By: spasm

spasm — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:54:24 -0800

Ellen Jamesians.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:56:44 -0800

One thing puzzles me about this. Chicago is pronounced "Shikkago", right? Doesn't that make "Chi-town" a homonym of shit-town? Or is that part of the joke?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:19:36 -0800

He should be grateful it wasn't spelled Chil-ton. I can only imagine all his friends pestering him to fix their cars.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:33:26 -0800

It's not always the customer's fault. I knew two brothers who were terrific artists, and they decided to open a tatoo parlor together, both being fans of the ink. Now, one was fond of drugs but could handle them. The other lacked his brother's fortitude. Now, one day a biker comes in and asks to have "Harley Forever" tatooed across his back. Brother #2 is on the floor that day, and, while I'm sure the tatoo was a piece of pure artistry, he forgot a letter. The letter L. Chi-Tonw is a little better than "Harey Forever."

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:36:50 -0800

Chicago is pronounced "Shikkago", right? Doesn't that make "Chi-town" a homonym of shit-town? It's "chai-town," or sometimes "shy-town." In Italian, "Chee-ka-go" (as it's usually mispronounced) is a homonym of "Ci cago," or "I shit there."

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:36:59 -0800

self-deleted post with sarcastic overuse of the "Z"

By: Penny Wise

Penny Wise — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:11:58 -0800

Only in America...where every mistake is a chance to secure you have a feather bed...until you get evicted for non-payment of your new bedframe and the room it sits in. Hey, it's Metafilter! Bring on the new comforters! (No bedspreads allowed).

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:31:52 -0800

My kind of tonw, Chicago is

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:12:24 -0800

Honestly. Kids these days... with their mispelled tattoos and their graffiti bicycles and their misogynistic gore porn....

By: joe lisboa

joe lisboa — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:40:32 -0800

He should be grateful it wasn't spelled Chil-ton. I can only imagine all his friends pestering him to fix their cars. If he was from Venus, would he feed us with a spoon?

By: LeLiLo

LeLiLo — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:47:34 -0800

This is indeed one of the best things in the Blue in some time. Thanks, Mo, and God bless America. Incidentally, from here: The indigenous Potawatomi tribe called the marshes on which Chicago was later built "Checagou," which translates to "wild onion" or "garlic" (also referred to as "skunk cabbage")....Before Chicago's founding, the name of the river was spelled several ways, such as "Chetagu" or "Shikago." Others say the word meant "strong" or "great." Chicago = strong garlic?

By: antifuse

antifuse — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 02:36:53 -0800

I hope this takes off. I can't wait to get my Tornoto tattoo!

By: romakimmy

romakimmy — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 03:22:56 -0800

In Italian, "Chee-ka-go" (as it's usually mispronounced) is a homonym of "Ci cago," or "I shit there." Really? As it is spelled, I would think the mispronounciation would be "Kee-ka-go" as Chi = "kee" = Who (which ruins the homonym, as 'who' + the first person singular of cagare makes no sense) Ci = "chee" = us, ourselves

By: kisch mokusch

kisch mokusch — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 03:24:11 -0800

That's kinda cool. And let's face it, there are worse tattoos you can have.

By: TedW

TedW — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:37:37 -0800

...wild onion" or "garlic" (also referred to as "skunk cabbage").... Someone needs to tell all those experts that skunk cabbage is very different from wild onions. At least his tattoo wasn't done while looking at a mirror.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 06:13:42 -0800

I bet he was a Cubs fan.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 06:19:41 -0800

^I was just kidding there, some of my favorite people are Cubs fans.^

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 07:15:51 -0800

Really? As it is spelled, I would think the mispronounciation would be "Kee-ka-go" A lot of Italians are familiar with basic English pronunciation, so they don't say "Kee-ka-go." But the "Shee" part is a subtlety a lot of people miss. (Including, I might add, many people who've lived in Chicago for years--notably the host of a latin music program on public radio.) "Ci cago" isn't very good grammar. "Cago là" is what one'd normally say (although my Italian has gotten rusty.) But it makes enough sense for the joke. And when I was in Italy, people sured loved to tell me that joke.

By: caddis

caddis — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 07:46:05 -0800

You see Maat, tihs is why we need a spel chcker

By: googly

googly — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:59:40 -0800

I'm beginning to think my Metafiler tattoo isn't so bad after all.

By: Dr-Baa

Dr-Baa — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:06:14 -0800

I'm beginning to think my Metafiler tattoo isn't so bad after all. pics plz

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:21:16 -0800

"I'm not sure how to pronounce this. Ki-tawn-whu? Shy-toe-nuwa?" I think that's part of the beauty of it. In fact it kinda looks like a pidgen native american language some Hollywood "Indian" would speak. Chief: "Mmm. We Chi-Tonw. Many moons." Brave: "Ungh. Chi-Tonw." Cheif: "Heap big Chi-Tonw." Cowboy enters: "How, Chief." Chief: "Scrambled"