Typos happen. People misspell things. We all make mistakes, but you really should be extra careful when getting a tattoo. I mean a typo in your tattoo may not be forever the way it was before laser tattoo removal, but it is an expensive and painful spelling mistake to fix!

While there is no good reason to have a misspelled tattoo (or perhaps I should say a mispelled tatoo), there are plenty of excuses. Too many beers in too little time has got to be on that list somewhere, but if you weren’t drunk maybe some of the blame goes to eBay. I mean, there is a lot of tattoo equipment for sale on eBay. It is perfect for all those struggling young tattoo artists who can’t finish their GED to save some money. Of course we can hardly pick on tatto artists as the only poor spellers, misspelled eBay listings are so common this whole site is dedicated to finding them. But we aren’t about blame, we are about celebrating (and maybe poking a little fun at) the best misspelled tattoos of all time!

This Tattoo is a Tragedy and a Comedy!

I think these were in intended to show a love of drama, not to be a source of it! The tattoo would have been a cliche but the added misspelling makes it an original. The tattoo reads “tradgey comedy”, but the tragedy is that “tragedy” is misspelled. Now it’s also a comedy! The ever popular smile now cry later never had more truth to it.

Why Not Misspell your Tattoo Everyone Else is Doing it!

In this case literally. CNN reported that Joseph Beahm paid $100 for a tattoo. The tattoo was done by artist James Kastel at a Boardwalk tattoo parlor called Body Art World. The tattoo was supposed to read “Why Not, Everyone Else Does”, instead it came out as, “Why Not, Everyone Elese Does.” After finding out the tattoo was misspelled Joseph planned on suing the tattoo parlor to pay for his laser surgery. However Joseph lucked out after a New Jersey dermatology center offered to remove the misspelled word from the tattoo for free. Now that is something that not everyone else is doing!

Give Me Strength to Deal with a Misspelling on My Back and the Wisdom to Know What It Is.

“God give me the strength to change the things that need to change, the courage to accept the things which cannot be changed, and the wisdom to tell the difference” That’s what we think Martin Nolan wanted when he spent seven hours having a prayer tattooed in the middle of his back. The tattoo cost him £200 which is nearly $400. He was just trying to pay tribute to his mother Brenda, which is a real sweet thing to do. After all his time, patience, and pain, his friend spotted not one but TWO misspellings. In the prayer, strength was misspelled as strenght and wisdom misspelled as nisdom. The tattoo will give him the strenght and nisdom not to get another bad tattoo.

Lincoln Never Made this Many Typos

Old Abe may have made some spelling mistakes but there is no way he made this many! You thought the two errors in the last tattoo were bad? Can you spot the THREE errors in this tattoo? Don’t double check your tattoo… triple check. Friends, strained and surely are all misspelled, appearing as: freinds, straind, surley.

Misspellings need not be limited to English

BBC reported that Joanne Raine, a teenage girl who wanted to tattoo her lover’s name, got a little surprise as to what the tattoo actually read. She had the tattoo for months on her stomach before she learned what it really meant. In Chinese, instead of having her boyfriend’s nickname Roo, she found out the word actually meant supermarket. After paying $80 at the Skindeep Tattoo Parlour for her supermarket misspelled tattoo, it’s a bit too expensive to get it removed. At least her boyfriend’s nickname was short! “I did not think about whether it meant forever. I’m just going to have to keep it as I can’t afford to get another one done” . What is worse is that her and “Roo” are no longer dating.

Even Famous people can Misspell Tattoos in Another Language

Today, David Beckham is known for his soccer skills, LA lifestyle and his famous wife Victoria, the former spice girl. His desire to show his love for Victoria back in November 2000 led him to get a tattoo of her name on his left forearm. Beckham thought tattooing her name in English would be tacky, so he chose to do it in Hindi script. Unfortunately the tattoo ended up reading VIHCTORIA, which is especially surprising since, thanks to Queen Victoria the name is well know by Hindi speakers. Of course he is in good company with the long list of people who misspell their tattoos in foreign languages which is at least more understandable than making a spelling mistake in your native tongue.

Spelling is Awsome, Misspelling is Awesome!

We are not sure what this guy was thinking. Why would you put I’m Awesome on your back in the first place? I mean if you are that insecure, at least put it where you can see it. Of course we think misspelling his tattoo to read “I’m Awsome” really is awesome!

Fuck the System that Teaches you How to Spell

Fight the power! Don’t let the man brainwash you. So this guy felt the need to rebel against the “system” and all of its conventional behavior. Instead of having his tattoo say Fuck the System, his tattoo turned out to be “Fuck the Systsem”. Now that’s really sticking it to the man.

Tomorrow I’ll Learn How to Proofread

This tattoo had potential, almost poetry. A tattoo that would read “Tomorrow Never Knows” on your wrist isn’t too bad, kind of creative. However, since tomorrow is misspelled they’ve easily made our list. Their tattoo reads “Tomarrow Never Knows”. Tomarrow never knows how to spell tomorrow right…

Deal These Cards Again

It seems his cards weren’t dealt in his favor. The tattoo looks pretty cool, with of course, a few errors. The tattoo was supposed to read “It’s not the cards you’re dealt in life, it’s how you play them.” Instead his tattoo reads “Its not the cards your delt in life its how you play them”. Looks like he was dealt a bad hand.

Speaking of getting dealt a bad hand and a bad tattoo, see this goth and his hello kitty tattoo. At least there is nothing to misspell.

The ChiTonw Movement

Possibly the most popular of misspelled tattoos is Chi-Tonw. ABC reported about Sam Hacker, a tattoo artist, who made a misspelling on a tattoo. Instead of Chi-Town like the Chicago man requested, he got “Chi-Tonw”. The tattoo was on the chest of Michael Duplessis. After Michael Duplessis sued Sam Hacker, an uproar of Chicago support for the local tattoo artist was ignited. This went from t-shirts being made to as far as getting the tattoo misspelled on purpose to read Chi-Tonw.

Two Chi-Tonw Copy Cat Misspellings

With Sam Hacker’s overwhelming support with the Chi-Tonw scandal, the tattoo parlor he works at needs the same support. Alfonse Wingfield is the one of the latest victims of a misspelled tattoo. Mike Edrington, tattoo artist at Jade Dragon Tattoo parlor, misspelled tomorrow on the tattoo. The tattoo read “Tommorrow Never Promised Today. John P. R.I.P.” Neither person seemed to know how to actually spell tomorrow, but went along with the tattoo anyway. Even though both seem at fault a lawsuit has been filed. Maybe we will see more tattoos with tomorrow misspelled?

Did we miss your favorite misspelled tattoo? Leave a comment!

You might also enjoy our post on Bizarre and Misspelled eBay Auctions or you can try and find your own misspelled eBay bargains with our misspelled eBay listing search tool.