By Barbara McAllister
Who of the following did NOT have a tattoo?
Was it…
A. President Teddy Roosevelt
B. Artist Pablo Picasso
C. Inventor Thomas Edison
ANSWER: The correct answer is B. Tattoo can either be a verb or noun, meaning a permanent mark made on the skin, or the process of making such a mark. It can made by making raised scars or more commonly by making tiny pricks in the skin and inserting permanent ink.
Tattoos have been found on ancient mummies but it was Capt. James Cook who helped spread the modern tattoo and introduced the word into the English language. Tatau was the Tahitian word used to describe the native body art Cook observed on his visits to Polynesia. Many of Cook’s crew returned home to Europe with tattoos and they soon became associated with sailors.
Pilgrims to the Holy Land had tattoos to commemorate their travels, but also for the more practical purpose of identifying their body should they be killed while in a foreign land.
Roosevelt, president from 1901 to 1909, is said to have had a tattoo of the family crest on his chest. Edison invented the electric pen, which was used by Samuel O’Reilly to create the first electric tattoo machine. Ediston is said to have experimented with the pen while inventing it, tattooing five dots on his arm.
