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

[apakin.livejournal.com]

I have to agree about little number of safety letters. Also I don't see the sense of tattoos like "М", "А" and so on, 'cause they're multi-alphabetical. I think the best choice is "Ё"

[apakin.livejournal.com]

or "Ы"

[the-toad.livejournal.com]

The latter is much better. With old russian computers and keyboards, and Unix-based OS'es, occasional switching from English to Russian normally turned "Y" into "Ы". Taking into account typical program requests like "Y(es)/N(o)", "Ы" has become quite popular responce meaning "yes" :-)

[apakin.livejournal.com]

Там вообще были приколы типа "Дежыце бусы", "Инжалид Дежыце" and so on

[the-toad.livejournal.com]

Да-да. "Цопыригхт" и прочие. Помню-помню. Я сам тогда программы на Пасцале писал, мне ли не помнить ;-)

[waxtep.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, what about "ытить" or "ёб твою мать" ? Both letters are definitely bad.