Over the weekend I saw a woman with a tattoo that looked a little something like this.

For about the time it takes light to travel between two hipsters in Brooklyn, I thought it was fun. And then the rational part of my brain kicked in, asking

What the fuck is this girl trying to say?

This tattoo says she loves music. Some kind of music. She either enjoys or participates in the creation or reproduction of some form of musical auditory stimulation.

Unfortunately, that's as far as we can go. See, this isn't a song permanently etched into her back. They're musical notes. They're random notations derived from a systematic method of representing tones for the purpose of identification and reproduction. People who see this tattoo will think, "Gosh, that girl must really love Travis Tritt. Or Handel. Or the Shaggs."

Every time I caught a glimpse of the thing I couldn't help but shake my head. I mean, if you love music, can't you at least narrow it down to some type of music, or a composer, or a singer? Take this tattoo:

This tattoo says a lot more about the wearer. It says, "Gosh, I didn't realize you have to put the notes on those weird-ass bars to mean a single fuckin' thing."

In the end, I recommend avoiding tattoos about music. Frank Zappa said writing about music was like tap-dancing about architecture, and I think tattooing is just as dumb. So, chick, enjoy your tattoo. Me, I'd sooner get a tattoo of a dot on my bicep, because I love Paris, and that's what it looks like on a map.