"It Was The Worst Tattoo I'd Ever Seen In My Life": Brand Logos, A Murder Scene, And 22 Other Horrifically Cringey Tattoos That Apparently Exist Out There

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Have you ever seen a tattoo that was so harrowing it sent literal SHIVERS down your spine?

A tattoo artist applying a stencil
Sergey Mironov / Getty Images

Well, I recently found this Reddit thread on cringey tattoos and this one on totally screwed up tattoos and felt like the responses were WAAAAAAAY too good to NOT share.

A woman getting a tattoo
Stevica Mrdja / Getty Images/EyeEm

Here's what they had to say:

1."I knew a guy who lost some bet with another group of friends and he had to get a tattoo of Scrat from Ice Age on his inner thigh...reaching for his nuts."

Jagasaur

A Scrat balloon
Michael Loccisano / Getty Images

2."Sayings, especially ones that span multiple limbs/areas."

"I was in the Army with a guy from Texas that thought he was hard as woodpecker lips. He had ‘Cowboy The [redacted] Up’ tattooed across his forearms (ostensibly so if he put his fists up to fight you, you would read it and...I don’t know, be scared or something?). But due to the size, he got 'COWBOY THE' on one arm and '[redacted] UP' on the other."

RistaRicky

A man showing his arm tattoos
Trevin Chow / Getty Images

3."Tattoos of brand logos. It's basically free advertising. At least email them and ask what they would pay you if you advertised for them until you die."

—Anonymous

A McDonald's logo tattoo
Joshua Sammer / Getty Images

4."Famous people. I get that you really are a fan of said famous person, but to permanently ink their face onto yourself is just wild IMHO."

poopellar

A David Bowie tattoo
Marc Piasecki / GC Images

5."A cartel hitman got a pretty detailed back tattoo of a pretty unique murder scene, and when he was arrested and processed for something else entirely, the tattoo was so unique and obvious that it was a particular murder in question that he was arrested and convicted for the murder."

StopSwitchingThumbs

A tattoo artist working on a client
Zamrznutitonovi / Getty Images/iStockphoto

6."I had a regular come into the shop once who was an older swinger type, and my coworker tattooed him. He got Pinocchio tattooed above his junk (with his penis as the nose) and script that said, 'Lie to Me.' I try not to judge tattoos, but...¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

Biscuit_McFizzle

Pinocchio
Richard T. Nowitz / Getty Images

7."I knew of a guy once who had 'DUBSTEP' tattooed on his chest in VERY, VERY large letters. He also insisted that dubstep was the future of music and was here to stay."

Shadesmctuba

A tattoo artist working on a client
Reza Estakhrian / Getty Images

8."Couples tattoos, like portraits or names. It's always the people who've been together for five months and 'just know they're going to stay together forever.'"

Gingeraffe25

A tattoo saying, "Alex"
Oleg Kolesnikov / Getty Images/iStockphoto

9."Just a couple days ago, 'Karna isn't a bitch' — spelled just like that — on some dude."

melocop

A tattoo artist at work
Alexandr Sherstobitov / Getty Images/fStop

10."Ones where the person gets a tattoo of someone using their belly button to replace the tattoo of a person's belly button (e.g. Buddha with a real belly button)."

bennnr101

Closeup of a tattoo artist tattooing
Westend61 / Getty Images/Westend61

11."A tattoo of a clown holding a gun and smoking a joint on their leg."

wherearemyvoices

Closeup of a tattoo artist working
Helen King / Getty Images

12."Armpit coochies. It’s when someone gets a woman's legs tattooed around their armpit hair. Yup."

—Anonymous

Outside of a tattoo shop
Mercedes Rancaño Otero / Getty Images/iStockphoto

13."A defendant in the courtroom I've seen had 'Homicide' tattooed on his face, over his eyebrow. Not a great look."

Silidon

A tattoo artist working
Kilito Chan / Getty Images

14."My artist said he tattooed a haunted house on some guy's ribs, and the dude insisted on hiding penises everywhere in it. So, the wrought iron fence had penises, and the spire, and the chimney had smoke with swirls that concealed penises."

—Anonymous

A tattoo artist working on a client
Vasily Pindyurin / Getty Images/fStop

15."Lips on the neck. I get it, you've got an attitude problem and probably want to fight."

LooseLeaf24

A person with lips tattooed on their neck
Cultura Rm Exclusive / Getty Images/Image Source

16."That stupid cliché thing that says 'Life' one way and 'Death' the other."

PhilipLiptonSchrute

A tattoo artist working on a client
Stevica Mrdja / Getty Images/EyeEm

17."Tattoos that are gifts from you to someone else. For example, 'For your birthday, I got your birth date tattooed on me!'"

AlexatRF21

Closeup of a girl's tattoo
Justin Case / Getty Images

18."I've met the guy that had 'Party 'til impact' tattooed on his eyelids while intoxicated. I think he later had it removed."

Crazy-Swiss

A tattoo artist dipping the gun in ink
Romona Robbins Photography / Getty Images/Image Source

19."I once stood in line behind a lady who had, like, the bad tattoo parade going from the nape of her neck. She had 'Only God can judge me,' something in Chinese characters, and an ugly, faded, poorly-drawn crucifix."

transemacabre

A tattoo artist working on a client
Witthaya Prasongsin / Getty Images

20."Those creepy faces of babies that look like there's a little demon on your body."

Muximal

A tattoo artist working on a client
Siro Rodenas Cortes / Getty Images

21."I saw a woman who tattooed her firstborn’s name as a lower-back tattoo."

equlalaine

A tattoo saying, "this flesh will not consume me"
Zave Smith / Getty Images

22."I've seen a woman with the Rolling Stones' lip-tongue thing inside of her armpit. Must have hurt like hell."

mrdewtles

A tattoo artist working on a client
Pakin Songmor / Getty Images/EyeEm

23."Barbed wire around the arm that doesn't even go all the way because 'it hurt too bad.'"

DDKLondon

A barbed wire tattoo
Fstop123 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

And lastly (and not totally cringey, but worth noting, I'd say):

24."I met a guy once who had a phrase in a foreign language on his arm. I asked him what it said, and he replied, 'Buy me a drink and I’ll tell you,' so I bought him a drink and asked again. It turned out it actually translated to 'Buy me a drink and I’ll tell you.' It apparently got him a lot of free drinks over the years."

—Anonymous

Tanya saying, "Wee-hee!"
Tanya saying, "Wee-hee!"

HBO / giphy.com

Answers have been edited for length and/or clarity.