Italia! Italia! Italia!

Last week, I received several really awesome pictures of calf tattoos spotted around Boston. Some were good and some were, well ... awesomely bad. Today's calf tattoo is courtesy my friends the Joneses. Why yes, I do make cracks about Jonesing for things and keeping up with the Jones all the time. And of course, I say the name of the Mr Jones like rapper Mike Jones announces his name on his songs. Fun times. At any rate, fantastic teamwork, guys. You snapped a truly unique tattoo. It was quite the topic of discussion at the bar yesterday during the England v. Italy game. Some random dude at the bar even felt compelled to ask what the hell it was. After a long, awkward convo about this tattoo, he was just as confused as I was and couldn't offer a definitive opinion as to what it was.

When I first got the picture of this monstrosity, it was via text message. The screen resolution of my phone is pretty good and usually acceptable for initial assessment of calf tattoos being good or bad. My first thought was that this was the Italian flag. There's a pretty sizable Italian population here (not like New Jersey), but they still manage to represent the 617*. But upon second, third, and fourth looks, I realized I have no idea what the eff this is. It looks like the colors of the Italian flag. But it's a weird shape. It's definitely not the boot shape of Italy.

If Jersey Shore and Real Housewives of New Jersey have taught us anything, it's that having an Italian flag tattoo in the actual shape of Italy is pretty much required to prove your heritage. Now maybe, the Italians in Boston, do things differently. I'm still learning. Reality TV and 4 years of college in New Jersey have made me a bit of an expert in Jersey Italians. Boston Italians are completely foreign to me. So I really don't know.

I do know that generally when you think Boston, you think Irish. Creme pie and clam chowder are also acceptable answers. Granted most of the people that claim they are 100% Irish actually have had family here for like 200 years, but yeah there are a lot of people of Irish descent here in Boston. Taking that into consideration, I now kinda think maybe this is supposed to Ireland but rotated on it's side, kinda sorta. It's possible that the tiny bit that is next to the white is maybe orange and not red. AmIright? I know. I am reaching on this one. As far as I am concerned this tattoo is a total wild card. I really have no clue what it's supposed to be. Maybe it's rotated Ireland or maybe it's a squashed Italian flag. Either way, it's super fug and I'm bummed England lost yesterday.


*That's the Boston area code, yo!