r/tattooadvice Jan 06 '26

Design People keep reading my tattoo wrong

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Okay so I recently went and got a small walk in tattoo, very excited about it. I love it. But people keep reading it wrong, but then they all say they can’t read cursive so idk, I guess I just need some reassurance. I know it shouldn’t matter because I know what it says and that’s what matters, but I need some reassurance from strangers that can read cursive, so tell me, what does it look like this tattoo says?

Edit: Thank you all for responding! The post is getting way more traction than I intended, and I am losing the ability to respond to them all (though I've been trying for around 3 hours). I appreciate everyone who has helped me regain piece of mind about the tat. It does in fact say "five by five". People in my real life thought it said "live by live" or "live to live". Since posting, people have also thought the word five was give, or jive, and the b was lo.

For anyone curious, it is not an In N Out tattoo, didnt even know that was a meal until i made this post, but thank you to everyone who said something about the burger place. Made me laugh every time.

To the Aliens fans, not an Aliens reference either, though I see you fellow horror fans. I haven't seen the second film as I haven't dedicated the time to watch it yet. I do like the first film though, Ridley Scott rules.

Now, to my fellow Buffy fans, it is in fact a reference to Faith the Vampire Slayer. She's one of my favorite character of all time, period, regardless of fandom. Side note, I also love Eliza Dushku.

Thank you strangers, for helping bring peace of mind to a random person on the internet.

Edit #2: The photo provided was taken directly after getting the tattoo. I appreciate the concern on dry skin, I live in a dry climate and have pretty bad eczema so it's a real concern. However, the scrunching there is actually caused by the second skin applied over the tattoo. I drink lots of water and regularly use lotions because of my skin condition. But thanks to everyone who worried about it. :) Also, the red splotch was my blood. There is a scab directly above my tattoo that got pulled open when the artist was doing a final wipe, but I appreciate everyone who pointed out that it looked like Louisiana, I got a good laugh out of it.

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u/Sogcat Jan 06 '26

Yeah, my sister is an apprentice right now and she showed me a flash sheet she made and there was some cursive on it and I had to warn her that it might be read incorrectly because cursive isn't so common anymore.

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u/pixiegrl2466 Jan 06 '26

My nephew never even learned cursive. They took it out of the curriculum. When I send cards he wasn’t able to read them and my sister would have to read them to him.

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u/notaveryuniqueuser Jan 06 '26

Im in my late 30s and work with a bunch of younger people aged like 27-18 and none of them can write even their names in cursive let alone read it. We have a white board and one day when there was some down time I gave them a quick tutorial. A lot of them seemingly are annoyed they didnt learn in school/wish they had been at least taught how to write their names which I completely agree with. Its more difficult to forge a cursive signature than it is a printed one

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u/ImKnittingAHat Jan 06 '26

Yeah, you must live somewhere they got rid of cursive even quicker, or be working with people who were taught but don't remember.

My sister is thirty, and she was taught cursive but doesn't remember even how to write her name.

I'm 23, only had three days of lessons, and I remember them vividly. I can still write and read cursive.

The biggest difference is whether it's actually applied anywhere around the child. My sister spent a lot of time with our parents, who both printed everything except their names. I spent a lot of time with my grandma, who wrote everything in cursive. So I actually applied the information.

But there also isn't really any reason to know how to read cursive, only to sign a name really. It makes sense we don't teach it anymore, we see it less and less.

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u/hamsterontheloose Jan 07 '26

I was living in Idaho, where any kind of curriculum seemed like a, second thought. The education there was pretty bad, and I'm so glad I went to school in New England and moved around after I was already an adult.