For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 29, 2021

well played, Michael

So that’s how it starts? I always wondered.

When your parents tell you that your tattoo won’t look good when you’re old, just remind them that they’ll probably have died of old age by then so they’ll never really know.

Hmm – sophisticated is not a word I’d use to describe Michael.

I am not a parent. But if I was, and my kid even joked about the word “tattoo”, I would go completely off the rails before he even finished his sentence.

I do not like tattoos but go with the crowd.

I’ve always wanted a tattoo but nothing too extravagant. I just want a simple K on my arm to represent my real name, but I don’t want how I want it. It’s between new school or realism.

Going about it all wrong. Duude, how about a ring through your tongue? Purple hair? A rainbow Mohawk? It would be so cool! And my kids all stuck with the plainest most uninteresting hair, clothes, and no tattoos or piercings. Reverse psych.

He’s good at yanking her chain.

not real sure i understand why mike WANTS to get a lecture from his mother.

Tattoos are in that peculiar area of society that blue jeans seem to have: people used to get them as a sign of rebellion and “take that, society!” but now both things are pretty mainstream

One time my husband & I were talking to my older brother (who has always been kind of protective of me). My brother said that my husband might look good with a pierced ear. To try to shock my brother, I said, “If he gets his ear pierced, I’ll get a tattoo.” (Side note: my husband has never wanted his ears pierced, and I hate tattoos.) Unfortunately, my brother said, “Oh, I think you’d look GREAT with a tattoo!” and started suggesting styles and where the tat could be!

My grandfather had a tattoo. One of my uncles had one also. I was in the Navy and saw plenty of guys with them. I’m now 77, don’t have one and don’t want one.

Years ago I emailed Jim Unger, the author of Herman Comic, to make a scene of a guy with piercings and tattoos about to receive a shot. The caption would be: I’m a afraid of needles. He emailed saying the idea wasn’t a bad one, but he was retired. What a loss. There is a special place in Heaven for people who make you laugh.

Ear piecing isn’t permanent. I had them during my midlife crisis twenty years ago, and they’ve closed up.

Well, you succeeded in getting her attention without raising her ire. My suggestion would be a nice Eagle, Globe and Anchor on your right forearm. Eastern or Western Hemisphere on the globe. Your choice.

The Army gave me a (Property US Army) tattoo in my ear.

At least he didn’t use the M word – motorcycle.

With so much forward planning of your parent’s death, no need for you to be in the will. I would take you out in a minute.

Part of a marching songs goes “I’m engaged to marry Sue”. Goes on later “I’m afraid toget undressed, Mary’s tattooed on my chest!”

I have asked this question on many forums and have never received a satisfactory explanation: what possesses a person to get tattoos and/or piercings? Why do people pay big money to mar their bodies? All the things Michael is suggesting are sleazy.

I’ve read this analogy somewhere: your body is a brand-new expensive sports car. Getting a tattoo is taking the keys and scuffing the paint job.

It must be some form of mental illness.

Was Elly trying to talk him out of it or into it?

My mom screaming “you’ll go crazy” if I smoked pot, 40 years and still waiting.

I thought the strategy of offering to go in together to get matching tats was a good one.

Not about a tattoo, it was a ploy to get mom to stop her Slupttt’ing her coffee and get her talking.

I can remember when…tattooed folks (especially women) were part of a carnival sideshow.Now they are all over the place. Some of these seem to have no forethought and really look gross.

He must like lectures.

At a loss to figure out the reason young people today are so keen on disfiguring themselves?

Now, of course, we have body visualizing software that not onlywill let you see exactly how that tattoo will look now, when you’re 17, but when you’re 27….47….77……

I thought he brought all that up so she’d stop slurping her coffee.

Huh, I’m an old great-grandma and my 3 look great! Number 4 is still in the planning stages but probably once the pandemic dies down….

I am surprised no one mentioned gauging their ears. That is seriously ugly, and irreversible.

I have, over the years, really considered getting a small tattoo. I never did, mostly because my husband hates them. I would think about it, consider his feelings and then decide not to. I guess I wasn’t all that committed to it in the first place.

My son, on the other hand, has several, mostly on his arms. He likes the tribal bands, though he puts a Celtic spin on them. He also has the Serenity Prayer on one forearm, in Gaelic. And no, none of us speak the language.

The current generation is doomed to be ugly in its old age, they seem to have no self-control when it comes to tattoos and piercings! And there is always regret. Maybe the reason there was no ‘Zits’ today is because Walt was getting the peace-sign tattoo taken off his butt!

I know that Mike is just saying this, as he admits, to get attention. But here, at least at places I’m aware of, a person has to be at least 18 years old to get a tattoo. As for the “earring with a chain”, that is probably possible,

Now a days the parents would drive them there and complain that it was about time they got one

You do realize that attempting to tone out the nagging will only make it worse.