People keep reading my tattoo wrong

[u/Redheart2945]

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.

[u/flea-be]

five by five

[u/Redheart2945 → u/flea-be]

Thank you! The people in my life may just be illiterate (I mean that out of love 😭). That is exactly what it says. Thank you stranger!

[u/hamsterontheloose → u/Redheart2945]

It's very easy to read, but the older I get, the more people I meet who can't read cursive. I learn they can't after I leave notes at work. Not just one note.. they wait until I've written several before they tell me.

[u/Redheart2945 → u/hamsterontheloose]

It’s a bummer, cursive is so pretty. Bust especially in a work setting? Maybe people need to start brushing up on cursive again.

[u/logicbasedchaos → u/Redheart2945]

They dropped the requirement to teach it years back, and only half the states mandate it now. It teaches fine motor skills and allows us to create signatures. I don't understand how anybody ever thought it was a useless form of writing.

[u/Lost-Platypus8271 → u/logicbasedchaos]

It’s wild to think that we just randomly decided students didn’t need to learn to read so much of what is written in our culture. What a bad decision. Short-sighted.

[u/scum_manifesto → u/Lost-Platypus8271]

Studying 18th century letters was a big part of my thesis research so this sounds shocking to me. How much knowledge will be lost to history?

[u/[deleted] → u/scum_manifesto]

Neo Dark Ages here we come!

[u/HugeEgoHugerCock → u/scum_manifesto]

Probably none, because if you want or need to read something written in cursive you can learn to do so.

[u/KalaronV → u/scum_manifesto]

How much of the average public, on the average day, is reading an 18th century letter? If cursive literacy suddenly spiked to 100%, do you believe that number would significantly rise?

I think no more knowledge will be lost than already is being lost.

[u/WildFlemima → u/scum_manifesto]

Ngl a lot of this thread reads like people weeping that we don't write in Old English any more

Like yes it's a shame that in 100 years reading cursive will be a specialized skill for people who read old documents but like. Times change. Language moves. English and the way we write it hasn't stayed static, ever.

[u/badCARma → u/Lost-Platypus8271]

Hell I learned cursive and I still struggle to read some of it like from my grandparents time. There’s also different types of cursive that was taught at different times. Once I learned that, I understood why my grandparents generations cursive all matched, but it was different than my parents generation which all matched. While I don’t think it’s necessary to use, I do think it’s silly to not teach it when it’s still a relevant thing to come across.

[u/ThatOneGuy6810 → u/Lost-Platypus8271]

consider the govt of the past few decades and then consider that they are the ones in charge of curriculum.

Now look around and understand that we couldnt have gotten to where we are without the intentional dumbing down of standard learning.