since we're talking tattoos...

[gjertsen.livejournal.com]

Of which I have a few...
One of my ideas for a tattoo is an (artistically rendered) letter ж. For two reasons basically, one because it's the most beautiful letter in the russian language both in sound and appearance and could make a really great tattoo. The other is the basis for my question. I'm under the impression that ж could be understood as a kind of shorthand for "woman." This comes mostly from a couple of moscow cafes I've been in that had just ж on the door of the women's bathroom. However, it's also possible that that's just shorthand for "ladies' room" and in that case I wouldn't necessarily want that as a tattoo...am I wrong to understand this letter as a symbol for women in russian? If not, is there one? Feelings about tattoos in general aside, what would a native russian speaker percieve as the meaning of such a tattoo?

Comments

[oryx_and_crake]

That's what is normally written on the ladies' rooms' doors, yes. I would say that the standalone Ж letter's connotation that first springs to mind is a ladies' room, not women as such.

Another ready connotation for Ж is жопа (ass/asshole). Well, maybe I am dirty-minded, but all in all, I would not recommend such a tattoo.

[gjertsen.livejournal.com]

thanks. i was worried that might be the case...a shame though, you could a lot of really beautiful things with that letter...

[mricon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I second that. The first thing I think of when I see a standalone "Ж" is "someone being too polite to actually write out 'жопа'".

[gjertsen.livejournal.com]

well is there a russian symbol that stands for women? I guess in english it's the venus symbol, which isn't english at all.

[mricon.livejournal.com]

Mirror of Venus is not English -- it's a standard symbol used in sciences to designate "female." Hence, it's used in Russia, too, but almost purely in biology.

[gjertsen.livejournal.com]

well it was adopted at some point as a simple of american feminism. If someone asked me for a shorthand symbol for women in "english" I'd probably say the venus symbol, as it would be universally understood, at least by American speakers. I know that feminism has a totally different history in Russia, I guess was just curious if there was a symbol associated with that. ж seemed like a natural to me (though I had no idea about the "жопа" association.)

[welgar.livejournal.com]

I think Ж is the symbol for both ladies rooms (женские туалеты) and female sex (женский пол).

Venus symbol isn't used that often. Normally, it is associated with medicine or sex (and is used together with Mars symbol).