Sure "WATER" looks dull if written in boring Arial 10 font with caps lock, but if you add a bit of pizzazz it would look fine as a tattoo. Esp. If you are a non-English speaker.
Reminds me of someone who have the Chinese word for "refrigerator" on his right shoulder, and when Chinese people would point and laugh about it, he would roll up his sleeve from his left shoulder where there is a tattoo of a fridge
Bruh what? Imagine thinking water - the bringer of life - isn't cool enough to warrant getting a tattoo of it. I hope his mouth remains eternally slightly dry.
Calligraphy is a traditional art form in China and Japan, so it seems to me like many people there recognize the beauty of the characters. Some people just want an excuse to hate on other people (and for some reason tattoos on other people really draw this behavior out).
If I'm gonna get a foreign language tattooed on me (and I'm probably not gonna until I'm 80 at least) it's gonna be some Sumerian cuniform, probably hate mail to Ea Nasir.
China: Makes the most beautiful calligraphy writing where every word is a pleasure to write and see.
Also China: It says 'Soup' down your arm, man. Why are you writing Soup all down your arm?
This site is now dead, but it used to be one of my favorites. It's someone who would translate the Asian-language tattoos people would send in. A lot of them were not even using real symbols or letters, but a lot of others were hilarious.
Someone in another thread (or on a Youtube comment I'm not sure) posted a T-shirt found in Japan that said in English "Too young to live, too fast to die, Cream Soda" which I think is an Initial D lyric.
Chinese writing is a vast world of art and ideas, with probably over 30 thousand different characters, nobody knows for sure how many there are. Not knowing what a character is, to strip it of meaning or cultural baggage, kind of frees one up to appreciate the rhythm and delicate balance of lines as their own thing.
Then again, you do not want to end up with PIG SWAMP MOUNTAIN DWARF NOODLE in permanent ink on your skin.
If you want to see Ewan McGregor naked and his body covered in Chinese calligraphy, sometime between Trainspotting and Star Wars, do check out Peter Greenaway's bonkers visual masterpiece The Pillow Book.
The important thing is to know what it actually says. Outside of that, Chinese and other type writings are artistic in themselves already, so even if it only said "water", if that looked nice why not?
This picture shows that artistic character. If her back had the meaning tattooed in English it might get some odd stares. Unless it was in Papyrus font.
If the western alphabet looks artistic to you, go for it. It you're trying to climb up onto some cultural appropriation moral high ground, well okay then, bye-bye now.
Even if it does look dumb to you, why not be considerate and leave them alone. "hey I'd like to make you self conscious about that permanent ink you have on your skin". Smh