Rihanna's Tattoo Typo: Lost in Translation

By John Mitchell Posted Aug 12th 2010 11:06AM

Whoops! Looks like Rihanna should have consulted your high school French teacher before getting her latest tattoo. The music superstar's newest ink reads "rebelle fleur," but someone forgot to tell the 'Rude Boy' singer that in French, adjectives typically follow the nouns they modify. To translate as "rebel flower," which we assume is what she intended, that tattoo should read "fleur rebelle."

But Rihanna isn't the first star to find herself stuck with a permanent stamp of linguistic inaccuracy. Just ask Hayden Panettiere and Coolio.

Panettiere got "Vivere senza rimipianti" -- Italian for "to live without regrets" -- tattooed down the left side of her back. However, she forgot to break out the dizionario Italiano (that's an Italian dictionary), because "rimipianti" (regrets) is correctly spelled "rimpianti." Somehow, an extra "I" found its way into Hayden's tattoo.

And as for Coolio ... well, he was just trying to be a nice guy. Doing his best to show his support for tour mates Insane Clown Posse, the rapper tattooed "Jugalo Cool" on his bicep as an homage to ICP's fans, who refer to themselves as "juggalos." For his part, Coolio told TMZ that the typo was on purpose and that he has no intention of fixing it.

We still think Rihanna takes the cake on this one, though. After all, her grammatical folly is right there on her neck for everyone to see.

Tags: coolio, Rihanna

Comments

(94)

Thursday 12 August

By mbrul

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what a moron! but she's not alone, there are plenty of idiots out there who think they have some chinese saying, but it's really shrimp fried rice.

By Gia

Hahaha...good one!

By ajschrod

I'll go further--when are people going to stop honoring dim-wits that just happen to have alittle talent? There are tons of performer out there that aren't dim-witted or wierd!

By Pablo

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

You can put a red wig and red lipstick on a monkey, and its still a monkey.

By r

insane clown posse tats are the dumbest tats of all dumb tats

Tuesday 28 September

By ed

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What was that about icp???????? id like to see you say that to a juggalo or someone with Insane Clown Posse tats ypull get beet!!!!!!!!!!

By Tom & Judy

Rihanna and the tat are a match. Both dumb as a sack of hair.

By GT

i dont think it was an accident she thinks she is a rebel and a beautiful flower so she put the words together and made it more artistic with french

By jeffrey lebowski

yeah, and you are as stupid as she is, in both languages.

By Jack

Oh, please ....

By Dez

It looks like the writer made a mistake of his own. He should have put "a homage" instead of "an homage" refering to Coolio's tattoo on his bicep.

By grammaticizer

actually he does have it right.. you don't pronounce the "h" in homage.

grammar police = full of fail

Friday 13 August

By Ryan

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Actually the article a/an can be interchangeable according to the actual sound of the first syllable. "Homage" actually begins with an O sound because the H is silent. Similarly you would say "A one dollar bill", because one is actually pronounced "won"...

By Jim

•Use the "a" article before all words that begin with consonants. For example, "a cat" or "a donkey."

•Step 2
Use the "an" article before any silent h. This is an exception to the above rule. For example, "an honor."

•Step 3
Put "an" before words that begin with vowels. For example, "an apple" or "an enemy."

•Step 4
Consider the two exceptions to Step 3. When "u" sounds like "y" in "you", or "o" sounds like "w" in "one", then use "a". For example, "a user-friendly device" or "a one man show."

•Step 5
Remember which article to use by basing it on the sound of the first letter in a word, not the actual letter. If the first letter sounds like a vowel, you use "an." If the first letter sounds like a consonant, use "a."

And, I don't want to hear any cr*p about being a grammar cop. I'm sick of people trying to cover their ignorance and/or stupidity by trying to ratonalize it.

By undrgrndgirl

@jim...thanks for that, now i don't have to do it :)

By Jerry

Well put. Jim, I presume you meant to say rationalize? LOL

By LSK

Rihanna's doesn't seem so bad (if you're not french). It sounds better as rebelle fleur than fleur rebelle. But Hayden Panettiere's typo is bad.

see some one with sense and respect understands

By mission76

Jesus will she stop already with the tattoos! She used to be such a nice looking girl..now she has this nonsense, guns under her arms, phrases on her back, e.t.c. Let it go Rihanna, you got punched in the face a few times, it will be alright, look for different methods to empower yourself

By Audrey

Ew. Neck tattoos are SO trashy.

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