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 TreyIM2

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The whole tatoo thing is just at the height of ridiculousness, anyway. It seems like if someone doesn't have one, the mentality is that something is wrong with them for NOT having one. I, for one, don't have one and have encountered the "why nots" many times. I don't think marking up my physique is art, by any means.

By Jack

Anybody who gets a tatoo is a moron. You'll regret it later. Your body is your temple, and it's fine just the way God made it. Don't go putting a bunch of tacky crap on the walls of your temple. Not needed.

By Michaela

Actually, my temple is defined by what I say is beautiful, not snarky morons like you.

By violet

Thank you, Michaela. There are so many people who don't seem to understand personal choice.

By Sophie

I used to think Rihanna was pretty . . . . like when she was a model for Cover Girl. That is not the case anymore. She's gone down hill fast.

By norm

Tattoos are trash, pure and simple, and should be left for the likes of drunk sailors, as they used to be. I have never seen a tatoo artist that I would let into my house.

By Tanzarian

Everyone criticizes the error. How about the triteness of the phrase - in any language?

By flbob

She could tattoo the entire Gettysburg Address on her forehead

By justchillin

Wow how original...now everybody and their grandmother has a tattoo...god damn followers. I heard jumping out of the window is a big thing now.

By just me

Bobbie
I know some bikers who want to get their tattoos removed because tattoos have gotten so mainstream and they feels that theirs are not special any longer

By bobbie

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I've heard that too, and I can understand the way they feel. A lot of people who had tattoos before they became a fad feel the same way. To each his own. It doesn't matter to me if a person has tattoos or not, I like to get to know people before I decide if I like them or not.

By ginger

Maybe she's a flower rebel. She likes to mix petunias with tiger lilies... and when she's feeling real wild she puts daisies with begonias.

Very clever, botany jokes :)

By Hello Boots2T

I couldn't read the tat because the red hair made me stop, still waiting for green light to continue.

Friday 13 August

By CeeJay

ROTFL!

By Dorrie

It's her d*mn tattoo. She can write it upside down if she wants to. Get a life!

By cjb

at least shes light enough to see the thing sometimes i wonder why some people get tattoos when theyre so dark and we cant even make it out !