Tramp Stamp

[Marc Velasco]

It´s probably also worth noting that girls/women who get said tatoo probably
themselves don´t refer to it as a tramp stamp when they get it.  Or such
instances of self-description are probably rare.

whenever Íve heard girls discussing getting a tatoo like that, it´s always
been described as lower back tatoo, butterfly tatoo, or tribal/weird
symbol/etc type of tatoo.




On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 3:04 AM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Tramp Stamp
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > The tattoo is also known as "ass antlers", which I take back to 2002.
> German equivalent "Arschgeweih" is my favorite. I see it from 2002 at
> Usenet.
>
> I've never heard any of these expressions applied in 'real life'; I've
> heard only "lower back tattoo" and similar prosaicisms (except perhaps
> when the topic is not the tattoo but rather "a funny expression I saw on
> the Internet").
>
> A possibly related "tramp stamp" from Helen Bottel's advice column, 23
> Oct. 1967 (N'archive), various papers (e.g., _Fresno Bee_, p. 8-A):
>
> <<When a 17-year-old girl goes weekending with boys she scarcely knows
> ... she'll get the Tramp Stamp ....>>
>
> Here I guess it is a metaphoric label (= "a bad reputation" or so)
> rather than an actual physical item. I've never heard it myself AFAIK.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
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