12/ 100
What a Japanese person actually thinksGenuinely funny, and not in the way you'd hope. It reads like a language-textbook exercise — 'conjugate these three verbs' — or a set of buttons on a machine.
Meaning
- Literally
- to live, to laugh, to love
- Actually
- A list of three dictionary-form verbs. In English the phrase works because of the rhythm and the alliteration; Japanese has neither, so all that survives is the list.
Scores
Naturalness●●●●●
Grammatical Japanese words in a sequence that means nothing as a phrase.
Coolness●●●●●
Nine characters plus punctuation, all to say nothing. It's also very long for a tattoo.
Watch out
- highThe English original is already heavily mocked. Translating it removes the only thing holding it together — the sound — and keeps the sentiment.
Get this instead
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一期一会
ichigo ichie
every meeting is once in a lifetimeIf what you actually want is 'appreciate this life while you have it', this is the real, beautiful version.
-
今を生きる
ima wo ikiru
live in the nowA natural Japanese sentence expressing the same instinct, and it holds together as a phrase.
On skin
生きる、笑う、愛する
Orientation: horizontal
N/A — please change the words.