Meaning of Bird Tattoos

barneysplash

Hi all

Does anyone know anything about the significance or meaning of
bird tattoos?

I know a few old guys who have bird tattoos like swallows or other
small birds?

I've heard these had something to do with the army or prison?

Can someone set me straight please

Thanks

biko

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_symbolism_of_a_swallow_tattoo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow_tattoo
http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/swallow-tattoo.html

barneysplash

Yeah I think that explanation fits the bill of they old guys I know:
former mard-men who were in prison or liked a fight.

Eroticplants

A swallow tattoo means you're a super hardcore hipster biatch.
True story.

Black Sheep

In the context that the OP is asking about I have heard some people interpret swallows on hands as meaning that person has 'fast hands' i.e is handy in a fight. Equally I've heard elephants or anvils on hands meaning they have especially 'heavy' hands.

That said, I actually think the real symbology of swallows as subject matter in tattooing probably is more likely to have a nautical root (as described in the wiki entries linked to above). I can't prove it with studies or anything but I would hazard a guess that when classic tattoo flash was appropriated a few people began re-interpeting it for themselves and reached the kind of idea outlined above i.e swallows meaning fast hands versus their being about distance travelled and sights seen etc.

Tattoo meanings do change over time I guess (like any language). Gangster style tattooing is going mainstream in the U.S and in some European countries at the moment ... In the upmarket form of Chicano black and grey tattooing. Likewise specific motifs like spiderwebs on elbows which might have once conveyed particular meanings are now pretty common, I've seen lots of people with them and I don't think they all have criminal backgrounds!