Hanzi Smatter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hanzi Smatter is a blog that is dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters in Western culture - the Western equivalent of Engrish.

It was started as a hobby of author Tian Tang in 2004. Most of the site's entries are photos of poorly done tattoos accompanied with often humorous and sarcastic commentaries. The site also features T-shirts and badly translated ad campaign slogans by Nike and McDonald's.

Hanzi Smatter and its founder Tian have been featured in many publications including Washington Post, FHM, and Stuff. Although Hanzi Smatter's entries are often about poorly done tattoos, Tian does not have any personal objections to the practice of tattooing.

Tian was interviewed by NPR's Robert Siegel on Jan. 12, 2006, and by Inked's Janet Tzou for the spring 2006 issue.

[edit] See also

• Chinese character tattoos

[edit] External links

• Hanzi Smatter
• "Chinese Character Tattoos: Lost in Translation" (NPR story)