Knuckle tattoo

A knuckle tattoo is a kind of tattoo that most commonly uses two groups of four-letter words or one eight-letter word.[1] It is not necessarily a prison tattoo, as sometimes believed, but remains an unpopular form of tattoo—alongside hand tattoos in general—due to the difficulty of hiding it in situations such as a formal setting where it would be seen as crass.[2] Some people also use their knuckles to tattoo drawings and images, sometimes in groups of four, such as the four symbols of a deck of playing cards to signify good luck, or astrological symbols.

US Navy servicemember, 2016

Examples

Robert Mitchum's character Reverend Harry Powell wears LOVE / HATE in the 1955 film The Night of the Hunter.[3]

In The Blues Brothers, the main characters have JAKE / ELWO/OD on their knuckles.[4]

Musician Flea wears LOVE / LOVE. Professional wrestler CM Punk wears DRUG / FREE.[5]

In sailor tattoo traditions, deckhands may get HOLD / FAST as a charm to support their grip on rigging.[6]

References
  1. Schonberger, Nick (8 December 2011). "Hate Or Love? The 10 Best Knuckle Tattoos". Complex.com. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  2. Hudson, Karen L. "Why Many Tattoo Artists Refuse to Tattoo Hands, Feet, and Faces". About.com. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  3. Richards, Sam (10 January 2014). "A brief history of knuckle tattoos". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  4. "Marked men: 26-plus bad-ass characters with memorable tattoos". The A.V. Club. 2010-05-24. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  5. Gomez, Luis (March 26, 2012). "Interview: Behind the snarl of CM Punk". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  6. Triezenberg, Julia (January 8, 2021). "Weekend Break: Historical maritime tattoos". The Astorian. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
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