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Originally posted by Mudd:
I was thinking about how a lot of traditional sailor tattoos originally had meaning. Either they were supposed to ward against some particular kind of bad luck or they marked some kind of achievement. There are a lot, but Wikipedia has a short list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_tattoos#Custom.2C_tradition_and_s
uperstition

Do you think any tattoos in the 'verse might similarly hold meaning? What kind of tattoo would be good luck? What kind of tattoo might indicate a particular position on the crew? What kind of tattoo would could mark an achievement?

I know sailors who still think changing a ship's name is bad luck, though if Mal's heard that tradition, it apparently didn't stop him. I've also heard that bringing a redhead on board a ship is supposed to be bad luck. Certainly turned out that way for Serenity...

Does anyone in Firefly ever express a superstition? Or what superstitions might make sense? If there are western/cowboy superstitions, maybe those would be more appropriate, but I'm less familiar with them.

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Originally posted by Mudd:
I know modern superstitions could hold up, but I figure 500 years is plenty of time for them to warp a little.

Awesome catch with the face tattoo from the pilot! Can anyone read what it means?

I forgot that Jayne has a tattoo. I think you see a tattoo on Mal in Trash too, actually.

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Originally posted by Mudd:
Thanks so much for this!

I'm not totally sure how to interpret your response though. The 2nd and 3rd characters mean, "Don't Dare" and the 4th means, "Add"?

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Originally posted by Mudd:
I thought I'd try to follow up on chinese-forums.com, and they gave me roughly the same answer. The character closest to the corner of her mouth was illegible, but the rest says, "????" (that's probably going to look like question marks too, I suppose). I typed the characters into Google Translate and got, "Can not increase" which sounds pretty similar to "Don't dare add" to me. I wish I knew what the first character was!

Edit: If I look up each of the 4 characters individually, I get "Do Not. Dare. Increase. Price."

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Originally posted by COSPLAYWITHCAPTMAL:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Mudd:
I thought I'd try to follow up on chinese-forums.com, and they gave me roughly the same answer. The character closest to the corner of her mouth was illegible, but the rest says, "????" (that's probably going to look like question marks too, I suppose). I typed the characters into Google Translate and got, "Can not increase" which sounds pretty similar to "Don't dare add" to me. I wish I knew what the first character was!

Edit: If I look up each of the 4 characters individually, I get "Do Not. Dare. Increase. Price."

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Well then that would certainly match up with the original idea that it might be a slave tattoo. So i'm guessing she's a slave and that tattoo is a price warning meaning don't add to the original price or don't sell her for more.

Now you can luxuriate in a nice jail cell, but if your hand touches metal I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you.

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Originally posted by Mudd:

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Originally posted by COSPLAYWITHCAPTMAL:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Mudd:
I thought I'd try to follow up on chinese-forums.com, and they gave me roughly the same answer. The character closest to the corner of her mouth was illegible, but the rest says, "????" (that's probably going to look like question marks too, I suppose). I typed the characters into Google Translate and got, "Can not increase" which sounds pretty similar to "Don't dare add" to me. I wish I knew what the first character was!

Edit: If I look up each of the 4 characters individually, I get "Do Not. Dare. Increase. Price."

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Well then that would certainly match up with the original idea that it might be a slave tattoo. So i'm guessing she's a slave and that tattoo is a price warning meaning don't add to the original price or don't sell her for more.

Now you can luxuriate in a nice jail cell, but if your hand touches metal I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you.

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Current best guesses are "Hand" and "Year" for the first character.

This site also offers a translation: http://fireflychinese.kevinsullivansite.net/title/serenitypt1.html#vis
ible
"The hand dares not hike the price." I think that supports your guess that it's a slave tattoo.

This site also notes that we see her right after we see what could be a gang (the Tong?). She might be looking at them. I'm not sure if that suggests anything.

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