I’ve always wanted to be really fluent in French. Just because I think it’s such a pretty language. But for some reason (boys), when I had to sign up for a foreign language in middle school, I volunteered for Spanish. Not that Spanish isn’t pretty too – I actually think the Spanish spoken with a regional Spanish accent is quite gorgeous.
Anyway, Rihanna doesn’t speak French very well either. A few days ago she got a neck tattoo (oh brother), and PopEater claims it’s not correct. She had “rebelle fleur” inked onto her neck on cursive, and apparently French-speakers say it should be “fleur rebelle”. So… not misspelled, just a weird adjective-noun relationship. Why not just get “The Flower Who Has A Rebellious Heart” tattooed on? Is her neck not big enough? PopEater has a close-up of the tattoo here as well.
Whoops! Looks like Rihanna should have consulted your high school French teacher before getting her latest tattoo. The music superstar’s newest ink reads “rebelle fleur,” but someone forgot to tell the ‘Rude Boy’ singer that in French, adjectives typically follow the nouns they modify. To translate as “rebel flower,” which we assume is what she intended, that tattoo should read “fleur rebelle.”
[From PopEater]
Beyond the noun-adjective quirk, I’m pretty meh on this tattoo. If you’re going to have something put on your neck (for goodness sake), shouldn’t it be something really, really important? Like, something you really need to remember, or something you want people to know as soon as they see you? If that were the case, I’d suspect a lot of men would get “The Flower Who Is Horny” on their neck. And a lot of women would get “The Flower Who Will Cut It Off If You Don’t Leave Me Alone For Five Goddamn Minutes”. Or simply, “The Bitch Flower”. Okay, I would totally get “The Bitch Flower” tattooed on my neck.
LMAO! Maybe she should hook up with Jon Gosselin.
How about you all stop being f–king haters. With or without the tattoo she’ll still be superior to you insolent fools. 🙂 how bout that!
How about you all stop being fxcking haters. With or without the tattoo she’ll still be superior to you insolent fools. 🙂 how bout that!
I seriously don’t get why people do this to themselves.
That stupid neck tattoo only lessens her attractiveness.
What’s wrong with just being plain these days?
Maybe this was intentional. To distract from the hair. Didn’t work.
The way she’s had it written, it comes out “flower rebels” – so I guess she could mean she is a flower who rebels, or a rebellious florist, or a member of the Flower Rebels girl-gang…. or that she is a floral rebel without a clue.
zzzzzzz
In spanish, the adjective typically follows the noun as well. That little bit I do know.
and where Im from people who get tats on their necks are as follows: their area code(210), their baby mama/daddy names, their race(i.e.’Brown Love’), their last name, or the forever stupid comedy/tragedy masks.
I guess I can’t judge too much since I have a giant lotus flower on the back of my neck/back….but I can’t say I’d get it in an area you see in the front. I’m not a big fan of tats on the face, chest or arms.
Maybe she’s a major geek and wanted “rebellious flower” in Yoda-speak AND French on her neck. Because that’s what it sounds like to a French-speaker (which I am). But somehow, that may just be wishful thinking. I doubt she’s that deep.
Her head looks HUGE in the first picture. LOL @ Bitch flower.
I’ve seen belle fleur before and La belle fleur so maybe rebelle fleur works too… still a stupid tattoo!
As someone else mentioned, Spanish uses the same grammatical order as French (noun first, adjective last). It’s really not rocket science and tattoo artists do enough tats in different languages that I would think they’d know simple stuff like this.
My tattoo is in Gaelic and I was damn sure to check with several fluent Gaelic speakers (in person) to see if the spelling and grammar were right. Walking around looking like an idiot to anyone who speaks the language your tattoo is written in is not a good look.
“If you’re going to have something put on your neck (for goodness sake), shouldn’t it be something really, really important? Like, something you really need to remember…”
Mine says “Floss!”
I find it useful. You should see my teeth.
This chick is lame. She is going to regret that stupid tatoo.
Actually, it’s acceptable for many adjectives to be placed before the noun. There are several exceptions to the general rule, but I think the only one she could really rely on is the exception for emphatic adjectives. So she’s a really, REALLY rebellious flower. Or, and this is more probably, she really just didn’t know any better.
Neck tats ALWAYS look stupid and cheap. What makes her so rebellious, exactly? The dumb hairdo? The costume changes? The boring pop music that sounds exactly like all other boring pop music? Rebellious sorts don’t need or care about advertising themselves as such, it’s more like conformity than anything else. Fail.
that tattoo makes her look like her neck needs washing.
I think she probably likes it and doesn’t care what you all think. Strange, huh?
Actually, it would have been a shocker if she had gotten it right.
PS-I love Bitch Flower.
Hey Zelda – that’s really friggin funny! 🙂
@Zelda-I hate tattoos but I always forget to floss. Any way that you can stop by my apartment when I’m brushing my teeth before bed? Like every night?
Thanks,
Kitten (and her dentist)
make my house the next stop after Kitten’s.
she is a beautiful girl……..im sorry was in the past! shes gone overboard w/ trying to be a fashionista and the tat on the neck cmon? are you from the hood?
Finally someone noticed that mistake and is talking about it! It’s even worst than the one on Hayden Panettiere’s hip..
Eww, neck tattoos are so trashy. Especially the dark ones that are just words.
Maybe that’s the whole point of being a rebel.
@ Alex, doesn’t work the same with as with une belle fleur. Beau/belle is one of those exception to the rule adjectives that go before the noun.
I love French it is such a pretty language!
If the adjective placement wasn’t dumb enough, the location of the tat really sucks. Whether or not one likes her “singing,” Rihanna is (IMO) a stunning woman. I’m sorry to see her besmirch her beauty like this. Nothing against tats per se, just the location is so… unflattering. It detracts from her beauty. She’s young and probably takes it for granted.
Shiloh Nouvel has always bugged me. It should be Nouvelle since Shiloh is a girl.
That hair is really gross looking up close.
haha! I also have a Gaelic phrase tattoo and I got it from my family. I sometimes get “is that one of those drunken gibberish tats?” but it is correct. I’d hate to have to admit error if someone was honestly pointing it out!
woah the bitch flower is good! This may be a new trend!lolz
This is right up there Spears’ mistake.
Wasn’t she the one who had a nape-the-the-neck tattoo that she thought translated to “mystery (as in an enigma),” but instead means “strange?”
Most prophetic tattoo. Ever.
@Anna
“Yoda-speak”
hilarious!
The country of Haiti laughs at her. Her school system failed her. Maybe she wasn’t smart enough or didn’t bother to take a language. Most know romance language reverse the noun.
Her incorrect tattoo makes her look stupid. If you’re going to scribble up your neck, at least have it done so people aren’t going to laugh at the big mistake afterwards.
And a lot of women would get “The Flower Who Will Cut It Off If You Don’t Leave Me Alone For Five Goddamn Minutes”.
LMAO
If you are going to play the pretentious fool and have a foreign phrase inked onto yourself, the least you can do is hire someone who actually knows how to write it properly. If not you are just a dumbass poser who got busted.
“rebelle fleur” = “flower rebel” in English
I’m french, this sentence doesn’t make any sense at all. Yes, it should be “fleur rebelle”.
It’s like saying “a car blue” instead of “a blue car”. Makes sense once it’s translated word to word in french, but it totally doesn’t in english.
I really can’t stand herm, her music is average, she doesnt even write it, her outfits are tacky and her rockstar “bad girl” image that she’s trying to sell is even tackier since, rockstars (real rock stars) and corporate whore sellouts dont mix
It just proves how dumb she is.
If your tattoo is something you REALLY need to remember, maybe you should put it on your hand, where you can see it? Or have it installed in backwards writing, so you can read it in the mirror? For example: “!SSOLF”
“Bitch Cakes” would be good.
Neck tattoos are the epitome of trash.
Isn’t the neck the place most convicts get tattooed when they run out of space?
I don’t mind tattoos in other places beside the neck, visual ones, but when people have quotes tattooed on, foreign lettering (they don’t understand), it’s just tacky and desperate.
So is matching the colour of your lipstick to your hair colour the new fad? *snort*
As for the tattoo, well in the words of Julia Roberts, that is so tacky.
@texasmom
SO true. I can’t even tell you the number of times I have ssolfed instead of flossed.
That’s why the next time, when I got one near my vagina, it said: “!MODNOC A RAEW MIH EKAM”
So the girl got a neck tat and the syntax was wrong. Holy Moses, lock her up! Or how about giving the girl a friggin’ break?
@zelda —
You don’t have to have it backwards down there, you could just have “Wear a condom or go home!” for your visitor to read.
In slightly related news, I knew a GP who delivered a baby to a woman who had a tattoo so close to her junk that it was practically on the perineum. This tattoo said: “Welcome to Cleveland.”
Although they spent many hours together, my friend never got up enough nerve to ask her about the tat!
1. Her hair will never not look ridiculous.
2. Don’t ever get a tattoo in a language you’re not proficient or fluent in.
LOL @ hellen!
Happy reading tonight:
“Love your posts”…..
“Love your tats”!
The “dumb” tattoo goes quite well with the “dumb” Rhianna. Please…. will we be getting any relief from her any time soon?
@ J Ferber, no, it’s way too much fun to mock this. Bad fashion choices are open season for mocking.
Fully agree Reema – rebel my ass – she’s a complete corporate shill, and has been since she was signed; Louis Viutton (sic), Gucci, etc., her image is totally manufactured, she’s as dumb as door post (Remember her Diane Sawyer interview), doesn’t write any of her music. And what does she do to be different – she’s gets a tat everyone is doing that and you can get them at the corner beauty salon. This is what she considers rebellious delusional. Her shelf life is expiring as I don’t believe she’s nearly as hot, good, and popular as her pr team/handlers are telling her.
All it needs is one little “,” between rebelle and fleur to make it all right, in all languages, grammatically, and with semantic oomph…never ever underestimate the power of a ,
@Jover
Nasty, well said and quite true.
Is it me , or is she looking a bit freaky deaky lately?…Kinda like shes lost in space or something…
Sure it doesn’t look as good as before, but she’s still quite good 🙂
LOL
hilarious!
well her grandma called her rebelle fleur and it just doesn’t matter if it’s gramatically incorrect!