tattoo (2009-05-29)

Part of Speech: noun

Pronunciation: [tæ-'tu]

Definition: (1) (1) A drum beat or bugle call summoning soldiers or sailors to return to quarters in the evening; (2) military exercises accompanied by a band for evening entertainment; (3) any continuous tapping or drumming. (2) A permanent design on the skin made by puncturing it and inserting dyes beneath it.

Usage: The most interesting military tattoo is the evening exercise, usually involving music, precision marching, and volleys of gunfire: "Evelyn and Will loved to drive out to the fort for a pleasant evening's entertainment, watching the twilight tattoo." Although most young Westerners acquire bodily tattoos for decoration, others find them a pragmatic solution to their problems: "Clarissa finally gave up and had all her Internet passwords tattooed on her arm."

Suggested Usage: Today we again get two words for the price of one, for the word above is, in fact, two words spelled and pronounced identically (see Etymology for details). Tattoos of the skin, once limited to young men in the military, have recently surged in popularity among civilian youth. We thought that youth in the military might wonder why their bugler every evening plays what they wear on their skin. (He doesn't; he plays something entirely different.)

Etymology: The first "tattoo" is an alteration of Dutch taptoe "tap-shut" (closing time for taverns), based on tap "spigot, tap" + toe "shut." The Dutch bugle call summoning soldiers back to camp meant "closing time" to tavern owners. The US term "taps," the bugle call played after tattoo or at funerals, apparently stems from the same Dutch word. The second "tattoo" has nothing to do with the first. Like "taboo," this "tattoo" comes from the languages of the Polynesian islands (Tahitian, Samoan, Tongan), where the practice was first observed by British sailors. That is why, until it became fashionable among Western youth recently, tattooing was associated primarily with sailors.