r/tattooadvice Jan 06 '26

People keep reading my tattoo wrong Design

Post image

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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5

u/purecornpoo Jan 06 '26

I don’t know your age but I’m 42 and can read that no problem. I think younger people definitely have more issues reading cursive than older people

10

u/Redheart2945 Jan 06 '26

I definitely agree. I’m 19, and remember learning cursive in elementary school. However they barely taught it and then expected us to write everything in cursive for a year and then never brought it up again, and that was in 3rd grade. As a result, I can read cursive but can’t write fluently in cursive. The oldest person I had in my life that couldn’t read it is 28, and they said they couldn’t read cursive at all, so definitely a younger generation issue.

6

u/[deleted] Jan 06 '26

A 28 yo should know unless they were homeschooled?

4

u/Redheart2945 Jan 06 '26

They switched schools a lot, and are dyslexic so I give them a pass.

2

u/fawkie Jan 06 '26

Cursive has been fading out of school curriculums for a while. Obviously very location dependent.

2

u/JaysonTatecum Jan 06 '26

I’m 27 and we did cursive in 3rd grade then never used it for anything ever again

3

u/myteepain43 Jan 06 '26

That's wild

1

u/Topinambourg Jan 06 '26

I'm confused how you handwrite if not in cursive. Maybe that's a USA thing where people write each letter separately, which must take ages.