Slang for Tattoo
- Ink - or getting some ink.
- Tat - for those too lazy to spell the whole word.
- Tac - tac it on!
Tattoo Equipment
- Gun - term for tattoo machine used primarly by scratchers and loathed by artists.
- Irons - term of affection for tattoo machine used by artists.
- Works - needles and tubes.
Tattooing Slang
- Carving - as in carving out some PHAT lines.
- Slinging Ink - hopefully not too much slinging!
- Pounding Skin - another term makes it sound much worse than it is.
- Grinding - grind out some tribal.
- Kickin' it Into Third - picking up the speed on the fill cause they know you can handle it.
- Know You're Getting a Tattoo - doing the underside of the arm!
- Airbrushing - when the ink sprays all over your pants.
- Tight - as in phat, tight tattoo work.
Tattoo Customers and Browsers
- Wrastler - one who faints and comes up fighting.
- B-Back - the customer who says, "I gotta run to the ATM, I'll be back" right at closing time and never returns.
- Cadaver - customer who refuses to talk to the artist during the entire process.
- Human Larva - small children running around the tattoo shop.
- Showcase - the customer who wears extensive amounts of an artist's work.
- Meat - Locals who frequent the tattoo shop and always have a fresh piece still healing
- Geeking - Acting without thinking how stupid you will be.
- Tenderfoot - self explanatory.
- Michaelangelo - the customer who asks for "victory red", "infantry blue", or "purple passion" and tells the artist where and how to shade.
- Yo-Man - Potential customer who walks in the studio saying, "Yo man, I got $20. What can I get?" or "Yo man, I NEED a tattoo. What should I get?"
- Dealers - Potential clients who little to wheal and deal on the price of their tattoo, and try to bid the artist down like they're at an auction.
- Closers - people that KNOW you close at 10 p.m. and take your last customer at 9, but walk in at 9:30 expecting you to stay to do a three hour piece.
Other Slang Expressions
- Goo - as in "put this goo on a couple times a day...".
- Pussyball - tennis ball given to the customer who won't stop whining.
- Squicked - grossed out, disgusted as in being squicked about your new piercing because it looks like it hurt.
- The Look - The tell-all smile when the customer first sees their new tattoo.
