Back when I lived in the Midlands in my late teens
I'd often nip out to the local park to stretch my legs and have a cigarette. There was a lad a couple of years younger than me who'd often be about and we got to chatting. He told me how his older brother and all his mates were in the NF and how he was planning to get himself an NF tattoo as soon as he turned 18. I did my best to dissuade him from this course of action, but he had his heart set on it.

One time I saw him when he was hanging out with a mate of about the same age, who was black. They came over and said hello, and we got to chatting about tattoos again as I'd just had my first one done. Again, he reiterated that his first tattoo would be an "N..." then caught himself in time, looked at me and said somewhat sheepishly, "an N tattoo".

There was some serious cognitive dissonance going on there. I didn't see him much after that and I never found out whether he eventually got his tattoo but I hope the fact that he couldn't even say it out loud in front of his friend at least made him think about it.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Thu 28 Feb 2013, 11:29, Reply)