The Hebrew tattoo craze exploded once mega-celebrities such as  Madonna and Britney Spears began practicing Kaballah and Victoria  Beckham and her soccer superstar husband, David Beckham, got matching  Hebrew tattoos as a testament to their love and devotion.  However, just  like the Japanese kanji craze at the turn of the century, foreign  lettering tattoos in any language are subject to scrutiny and  misinterpretation unless you speak the language yourself or know (and  trust) someone who does.  First of all, not many American cliches and  idioms translate directly into a phrase that makes sense in another  language.  Commonplace sayings like "keep it real" or "what the hell"  lose their meaning when translated into a different dialect.   Additionally, there is not a Hebrew equivalent to every single American  word that exists.  Many times translation websites simply select a  translation that comes closest to the original word.  In Hebrew  lettering, the same set of characters is used to mean "human" as well as  "husband", depending on the context, so that a tattoo that is supposed  to say "I love my husband" can just as easily mean "I love my human".
Keep  in mind also that there is a very specific calligraphy and style of  lettering for each Hebrew character.  Foreign languages that utilize  characters have precise lines and nooks and crannies that we as  Americans may not understand.  It's not like the English alphabet where  an A is an A no matter how shabbily it is drawn; if it has two long  lines and a shorter line connecting the two, it's an A.  Hebrew  characters, on the other hand, may look astoundingly similar but  actually mean something completely different.
When we write in  English, it doesn't matter if our style of writing is print or cursive,  bubble letters or block letters.  The same is not true in many foreign  languages, including Hebrew.
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