In the above poster for the movie John Tucker Must Die, you can see a lower back tattoo, often referred to by its colloquial name, the tramp stamp. According to Wikipedia, there’s a German slang term for lower back tattoos — Arschgeweih — which means “ass antlers”, which is probably derived from the fact that these tattoos have a barbed style and look like anters when they stick out from underneath low-rise jeans, which the young ladies seem to favour these days.
One of my favourite quotes from Wedding Crashers is what Vince Vaughan’s character said upon seeing a tramp stamp at the wedding:
“Tattoo on the lower back… might as well be a bullseye.”
It’s funny because it’s true.
Another bit from Wedding Crashers that I liked was when Owen Wilson’s and Vince Vaughan’s characters were placing bets on what the reading at the wedding would be:
Priest: And now for our second reading I’d like to ask the bride’s sister Gloria up to the lectern.
John Beckwith (Owen Wilson): 20 bucks First Corinthians.
Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughan): Double or nothing Colossians 3:12.
Gloria: And now a reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
If you’ve been to a couple of Christian weddings, you’ve probably heard the excerpt from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Not only have I heard it a zillion times, but because I’m a performer at heart and my extended family knows it, I’ve been called to do that reading on at least a half-dozen occasions. There’s really nothing wrong with it and the message is so universal that I’ve seen it used at non-Christian weddings, but it’s become clichéd from overuse.
I stumbled across a photo — a preview of which appears below — where the tramp stamp meets First Corinthians, which is like having two Wedding Crashers jokes in one. I have no idea of the origins of this photo — maybe the Bible Belt is going through a Girls Gone Wild phase.
You’ll have to click the photo to see the full photo. The young lady in the photo is wearing pants, but they’re low-rise jeans. You don’t see anything you wouldn’t see at the beach, but there’s a little bit of “plumber’s crack” in the photo and it may not be safe for your workplace. But hey, there’s a Bible verse!
9 replies on “The “First Corinthians” Tramp Stamp”
Damn. I was at a wedding this weekend which featured that reading. Thought of that Wedding Crashers scene the whole time..
The hilarious bit about 1st Corinthians 13 is that it is ALWAYS (when used in a wedding) taken completely out of context.
Biblical scholars (and anybody who studies ancient texts) should use hermeneutical analysis in their reading. They would thus know that the Apostle Paul spends the first twelve chapters of 1 Cor talking about “spiritual gifts” and their use in the church of Corinth. Then in 1 Cor 13 he starts talking about a better method of caring for the lost — that is, love — and how any of the spiritual gifts (speaking in tongues, healing the sick, and so on) is useless unless it is also exercised with love and compassion for your fellow man.
Then he goes on to define what love is and is not, in the context of exercising your spiritual gifts and Christian life. There’s not one word about weddings in there, because it’s not about the dynamics of family life and how how husbands and wives should love each other; it’s about how Christians should demonstrate God’s love to non-Christians — and each other.
You probably don’t really have to worry unless you find yourself reading Psalm 23:4 on her back
I once worked with a girl named Faith. She was the oldest of three sisters. Their names were Faith, Hope, and Sandra.
I’m not making this up.
That’s a punchline to a joke, as well, about a minister who reads Paul Tillich after his first two daughters were born.
The tattoo seems to say “There is no limit to it’s faith.” Either she has an it’s/its mistake forever inscribed on her skin, or she has a mole that could be an apostrophe.
In your opinion. Up for argument.
HA! Kudos to you, Joey, my good man, for this particular blog post. Hilarious, and a very good example of how shudderingly awful these “ass antlers” can be (I am so appropriating that German phrase and its literal translation). I am appalled at the blatant apostrophe abuse going on in this tattoo, too.
[…] for work, depending on the sort of office you’re in — in an entry from last year titled The First Corinthians” Tramp Stamp. This entry was written by Joey deVilla and posted on July 6, 2007 at 7:29 am and filed under […]
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