May 24

integrity

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This is Dominick’s tattoo.

Simply the word “integrity.” I wanted it to be phonetically spelled because of my extreme passion for words.

In college when I learned or came along new words, it excited me to look them up. The word “integrity” comes from my interpretation in a line from “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, my favorite author. Nick Carraway is making an assessment of himself as a man in chapter 3. He thinks:

“Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”

That quote in the book stands out for me every time i read it. Fitzgerald once said, “You can stroke people with words.” I believe it.

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This post has 12 comments. Add your own.
wry - 25 May 10 at 15:42:39

Wow, cool tattoo (not to diminish your scar – I myself have an 8 inch scar on me and it has no issues whatsoever sharing my skin with a tattoo, hope yours does the same =D)! Simple and special at the same time.

Also the idea of stroking people with words is definitely something that speaks to me.

cait - 25 May 10 at 21:31:33

awesome tattoo. love the story behind it. never read the great gatsby (gasp!) but your tattoo is still cool :)

Kim - 11 Jul 10 at 15:09:52

I think this is an awesome tattoo.
I was thinking about getting the word ‘honesty’ tattooed on my wrist with the same break down of the the word like you have and was just courious, since you love grammar, as to why the there is a different marking between the ‘teg’ and ‘ri’. And if there would be one in the word “honesty” lmao

dominick - 13 Jul 10 at 23:24:34

the ” ` ” is the mark to denote an accented syllable. in “honesty” it would be on the first syllable.

gen - 23 Sep 10 at 04:07:43

Nice one.
Can someone tell me which font is used ?

[...] source [...]

FrankyV - 27 Jan 11 at 17:46:02

Nikko Hurtado is the man. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQUb1BbyKbU

Aaron - 10 May 11 at 10:10:35

Love it. Absolutely love it. Speaking of grammar breakdowns, where would that accent be on the word “memento?” Checking dictionaries I don’t see the accents listed in their syllabical breakdowns. I considered doing mine with the pronunciation breakdown but it is just too whacky for my liking.

[...] integrity [...]

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N - 14 Dec 11 at 20:31:08

That’s not phonetically.

Hi - 07 Jan 12 at 13:23:00

I hope you realise that that line in the book isn’t to be taken at face-value. Nick is anything BUT honest, and in that line he is being profoundly big-headed.