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Question about a tattoo design I saw the other day

Lullaboozler

12:18 / 29.11.02

Waiting in for the Hoover engineer the other morning - he turns out to be this huge skinhead bloke with (and I thought this was a nice touch) HATE tattooed on one set of knuckles and HATE tattooed on the other.

The one I couldn't work out was the two circles that were touching, with the number 13 in one and 1% in the other. It was on the back of his hand.

I didn't like to ask in case he was some NF nutcase or something, and I wanted him out of my flat PDQ.

I've had a look on google groups in the rec.arts.bodyart NG, but nothing there, and google returns too many hits on all the search strings I can think of.

Does anyone here have any idea what it was or what it stands for?

Punji Steak

12:30 / 29.11.02

I imagine in this context it is a Hells Angel/Biker thing.

Check-

http://motorcycles.about.com/library/glossary/bldef074.htm

Lullaboozler

12:56 / 29.11.02

Ah, could be. Don't see the relevance of the 13 though - unless this was a chapter number?

Thanks. Makes me feel a bit more comfortable about him being in my flat - at least without his hawg :-)

Didn't really want to go trawling the race hate sites in work to figure this out!

Punji Steak

13:23 / 29.11.02

I've done a bit more digging (because then I don't have to do any work) and come up with this-

http://www.geocities.com/olde13illinoismc/aboutus.html

So if you are in Illinois or nearby, then maybe that is the connection? Of course, if you're outside the US then no idea...

Ethan Hawke

14:06 / 29.11.02

IIRC from "hells angels" by HS Thompson, "13" is the code for marijuana, and 1% refers to the fact that when the "biker menace" was a big deal, the American Association of Motorcylcists (or some sort of public advocacy group for motorcyclists) publishes adverts that said 99% of bikers were law abiding. Hells Angels and other motorcycle gangs considered themselves the other 1%, who would never fit into society.

Ethan Hawke

14:07 / 29.11.02

13 for marijuana because they thought all cannabis plants had 13 leaves.

Linus Dunce

14:21 / 29.11.02

No, because 'M' is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet.

"Hate" and "Hate" made me laugh ... nervously.

Lullaboozler

14:39 / 29.11.02

"Hate" and "Hate" made me laugh ... nervously.

I have had a different engineer round before and he couldn't fix the problem. Turns out to be the big fella's little brother. Glad I didn't complain too strongly to Hoover about him now...

pointless and uncalled for

14:54 / 29.11.02

More accurately 1% refers to the very small number of Hells Angels who claim to have killed someone. However, as the practice of tattoos and patches is unregulated, this is open to the obvious forms of abuse.

Linus Dunce

15:02 / 29.11.02

I'm no expert, but I remember reading the explanation Todd gave about the 1 percent.

13 predates the Angels.

I guess it's all open for debate, because I doubt there are any verifiable written records. But I would suggest someone wearing patches or tattoos that signify something they're not very quickly finds themself called to question, so it is regulated in an informal way.

pointless and uncalled for

15:06 / 29.11.02

I guess I may be wrong but I have come across my 1% explanation a number of times. It was tied in with another reference to the 1%er's being called The Filthy Few. Web fu coming up in a mo'.

Logos

22:08 / 30.11.02

I think the '13' is just his way of saying, 'I'm bad luck.'

Lullaboozler

06:16 / 01.12.02

I think the '13' is just his way of saying, 'I'm bad luck.'

I suppose he could be bad luck as a radiator burst in my flat yesterday - not the most peaceful way to start a Saturday.

And he didn't fix the hoover. Not that I was going to complain to him directly...

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