Jake's tats in the movie. What does the one on the right arm mean?

[kintìomum]

Kind of "Second Winner - First Loser"? Makes sense...

[Kätsyín te Zotxekay Tsyal’itan]

What I find more interesting is the one on the other arm:
It says "Born Loser" (not to be seen in the pic but stated in the script).
Now, did he get it before or after the gunshot that severed his spine? I'd guess before, but why would someone do that? Low self esteem? Jake clearly doesn't look to shy when he comes to fight for what he thinks is right.
Hmm, somehow I'm undermining my own post, no? Fighting for thus which one believes to be the right thing often unleashes the tiger...

Remember how Jake talks about his brother Tom? Well I think he suffered a bit in his childhood, especially since they were twins - one brother the smart and educated one, while the other was more of a wild card (questionable I know, but it's safe to say Jake has an incredibly inquisitive spirit). So if he did it before or after loosing his ability to walk still doesn't hide the idea that he felt "second best". Another story of a man gone to the army to prove himself? Maybe, just maybe.

Yea, I hadn't thought about the "I'm gonna prove I'm as good as you" route.

[Kaltxì Palulukan!]

What I find more interesting is the one on the other arm:
It says "Born Loser" (not to be seen in the pic but stated in the script).
Now, did he get it before or after the gunshot that severed his spine? I'd guess before, but why would someone do that? Low self esteem? Jake clearly doesn't look to shy when he comes to fight for what he thinks is right.
Hmm, somehow I'm undermining my own post, no? Fighting for thus which one believes to be the right thing often unleashes the tiger...

Remember how Jake talks about his brother Tom? Well I think he suffered a bit in his childhood, especially since they were twins - one brother the smart and educated one, while the other was more of a wild card (questionable I know, but it's safe to say Jake has an incredibly inquisitive spirit). So if he did it before or after loosing his ability to walk still doesn't hide the idea that he felt "second best". Another story of a man gone to the army to prove himself? Maybe, just maybe.

Is it me, or did Jake's brother look like "Dexter" (the TV serial killer? M.C.H. someone... M. C. Hammer? anyway...) yeah, Jake certainly has the heart of a tiger, and an inquisitive spirit. He is "laid back tough, rather than the colonel's brand of "I'm gonna get in your face" alpha-bully style. you make good points. With a rocket scientist brother (Jake probably played some football--maybe not even varsity--just with friends) it would be easy to feel relegated, by fate, to the sidelines. Recon. Time alone to think, philosophize. Get back to nature. That's a real primal existence. You and the jungle.

[Kätsyín te Zotxekay Tsyal’itan]

Now that you mention it Palulukan, he did kinda look like Dexter....

[Coyote]

That's not a military style tattoo at all; it's just a standard "cool design thingy #127" that is in a lot of tattoo design books.

Tattoos are popular among many in the military, mostly because young men cut loose form parental supervision for the first time, and given a steady salary and no need to pay rent can be drunken fools.  My roommate at Ft. Carson got a big "Yosemite Sam" tattoo (got infected) because he was drunk and from Texas, and I wonder to this day if he still feels as happy about that monstrosity as he did when he came staggering in the door that night, whoopin' and hollerin'.

BTW, 13+ years Army, and no tattoos on me at all, anywhere.

[Kätsyín te Zotxekay Tsyal’itan]

^Thank you for your service.

How far up the rank ladder have you gotten in those 13 years?

[Coyote]

Thank you! 

I am currently a Staff Sergeant / E-6 in the US Army Reserves. I've also done Active Duty Infantry and a deployment to Iraq as a Combat Engineer. Picture of that on page 8 of the Real-Life pictures thread.  Also had some time in the National Guard as a tank driver, which was... okay. I'm a groundpounder at heart, though. Now I'm back in the Reserves as a Combat Engineer instructor.

Here's also my entry on military stuff for the curious; it was done to help people do RP's with added realism--
http://forum.learnnavi.org/info-support/military-stuff-for-the-curious/

I suppose if I were to get a tattoo, it'd be something Hebrew. But... naw. 

[TorukMakto!]

Thank you!  

I am currently a Staff Sergeant / E-6 in the US Army Reserves. I've also done Active Duty Infantry and a deployment to Iraq as a Combat Engineer. Picture of that on page 8 of the Real-Life pictures thread.  Also had some time in the National Guard as a tank driver, which was... okay. I'm a groundpounder at heart, though. Now I'm back in the Reserves as a Combat Engineer instructor.

Here's also my entry on military stuff for the curious; it was done to help people do RP's with added realism--
http://forum.learnnavi.org/info-support/military-stuff-for-the-curious/

I suppose if I were to get a tattoo, it'd be something Hebrew. But... naw.  

That's great infoabout the US military, I didn't know that , I do know about the IDF thou..

About tattoing, yea your friend did a stupid thing but some soldiers, escpcially in hardcore combat units (Marines in the USA probably) do that as part of team unity that's why Jake might be a symbol of his team unity to his marine squad.


By they way , if you think about tatoo in Hebrew or anything in Hebrew let me know I'll fix you spelling .

[Kaltxì Palulukan!]

(snip)
...and I wonder to this day if he still feels as happy about that monstrosity as he did when he came staggering in the door that night, whoopin' and hollerin'.

Spoiler

You want us to pull an ol' number 6 on 'em?

A number 6? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that procedure.

That's when we come into town, a whompin' and a whoopin'. Beatin' the livin' ***** out of everything that moves. Except the women folk, of course.

[Coyote]

That's great infoabout the US military, I didn't know that , I do know about the IDF thou..

About tattoing, yea your friend did a stupid thing but some soldiers, escpcially in hardcore combat units (Marines in the USA probably) do that as part of team unity that's why Jake might be a symbol of his team unity to his marine squad.

By they way , if you think about tatoo in Hebrew or anything in Hebrew let me know I'll fix you spelling .

Thanks-- I'm better at speaking it than spelling it. I am getting my block and script mixed up; which confuses the hell out of the kids. I lived in Israel from 1998-2002 and learned Hebrew at the overseas students ulpan in Ben-Gurion University, but now I teach Hebrew to the kids preparing for their bar- and bat-mitzvot at the Bet-knesset here. So now my language skills have gone to about a 9-year-old's level and stayed there. 

So, yeah, I wouldn't want to be like those silly people who run out and got tattoos in foreign languages with no real idea what it said. Asian language tattoos are most common, people say "oh, it means 'Life' in Mandarin" or something like that, when for all they know it was something from a restaurant menu. 

Prior to deployment, a bunch of the guys in my unit did get tattoos, but mostly they were simple, straightforward things: "OIF-II 2004-2005", which is dull but reflects the time they were deployed. One piece of advice I heard was "never get a woman's name tattooed on you unless it is your mother or your daughter". 

[TorukMakto!]

That's great infoabout the US military, I didn't know that , I do know about the IDF thou..

About tattoing, yea your friend did a stupid thing but some soldiers, escpcially in hardcore combat units (Marines in the USA probably) do that as part of team unity that's why Jake might be a symbol of his team unity to his marine squad.

By they way , if you think about tatoo in Hebrew or anything in Hebrew let me know I'll fix you spelling .

Thanks-- I'm better at speaking it than spelling it. I am getting my block and script mixed up; which confuses the hell out of the kids. I lived in Israel from 1998-2002 and learned Hebrew at the overseas students ulpan in Ben-Gurion University, but now I teach Hebrew to the kids preparing for their bar- and bat-mitzvot at the Bet-knesset here. So now my language skills have gone to about a 9-year-old's level and stayed there. 

So, yeah, I wouldn't want to be like those silly people who run out and got tattoos in foreign languages with no real idea what it said. Asian language tattoos are most common, people say "oh, it means 'Life' in Mandarin" or something like that, when for all they know it was something from a restaurant menu. 

Prior to deployment, a bunch of the guys in my unit did get tattoos, but mostly they were simple, straightforward things: "OIF-II 2004-2005", which is dull but reflects the time they were deployed. One piece of advice I heard was "never get a woman's name tattooed on you unless it is your mother or your daughter". 

Nice, I lived there all my life, now going to college here in the USA.
True about that Asian language tattoo's haha, if it's just a restaurant menu , they got away quite cheaply could be something worse then that.
I had a friend that tattooed his girl's name, he paid greatly after the broke up, it's indeed very risky thing to do like you said.
Yes, usually army tattoos aren't complicated like you mentioned, but I still kind of want to believe that in Avatar Jake's tattoo does imply something to the Marnie squad he was in and not just some random nice tattoo.

[Kaltxì Palulukan!]

So, yeah, I wouldn't want to be like those silly people who run out and got tattoos in foreign languages with no real idea what it said. Asian language tattoos are most common, people say "oh, it means 'Life' in Mandarin" or something like that, when for all they know it was something from a restaurant menu. 

Fortune cookie for you! (Get it? Ge-- ugh... I just woke up. I really need to stop waking up and immediately going to Learn Navi...takae your karma and..mmmm nap time! okay, back to bed with me)

[Kätsyín te Zotxekay Tsyal’itan]

So, yeah, I wouldn't want to be like those silly people who run out and got tattoos in foreign languages with no real idea what it said. Asian language tattoos are most common, people say "oh, it means 'Life' in Mandarin" or something like that, when for all they know it was something from a restaurant menu. 

LOLOL, that'd be funny for some one standing around to hear about someone accidentally having something from a menu tatooed on your arm and have someone calling them on it.

[birchelicious]

well..Ill repeat: I dun believe CAMERON "made" Jake such a tat just 'coz it looks nice, it's not his style.
tribles do mean sth.
e.g: Robbie Williams has Maori trible that means sth like this "a warrior who is 2 begin the war"