Yeah , they ALWAYS mean something . Like my grandfather who got a tattoo right after WWII because . Well , because he wanted a naked girl on his arm . That ' s it . That girl later got shot in the head when he was in Korea and he got another naked girl on his leg to remind him of the first tattoo . They don ' t and haven ' t always meant something . They ' re permanent decorations we put on our body that some people have wanted symbolism or a meaning behind . That ' s it . You CAN have meaning , you don ' t need to . Not every scratch needs an origin story . It ' s a body modification , not a thesis . Are you gonna look down on people who dare to be such pussies and get tattoos done with a gun instead of a needle , too ? Or that we ' re using newer , longerlasting ink instead of the stuff the Maori were using a thousand years ago ?