Tattoo question

[Linnia]

I'm going to tell the story behind the tattoo I want, just so that I can get help with nuances and grammar.

Several months ago, a friend of mine got a sixth tattoo, and I decided I wanted one too, but the design I had in mind was too complex for a starter tattoo, so the tattoo artist said that I should think of simpler ideas for my first tattoo.

I had many ideas, but a different friend of mine said that I should get one that says "What do you mean this is permanent?!??" as a joke. Much to his surprise, I took him seriously and said I would do so! He was horrified, until I told him I would make it even better and have it written in Chinese, and make people think that it was a mistake from the ignorance of Chinese characters, or a joke on the tattooist's part!

Now, it's also a joke to me, because I studied Mandarin for 4 years in high school (I'm Canadian, with Scottish ancestry), so I can read Chinese pretty well, even though I'm absolutely terrible at speaking it, because I don't have a good grasp on the grammar or tones - the teacher I had was very lax, because most of my Chinese classmates were all from Beijing, so he didn't need to teach them anything, so he would just give us worksheets and then ignore us - my classmates taught me more than he did!

So I want a tattoo that says "This is permanent?!" as if speaking in a startled voice. When I tried to translate it on my own, I came up with "Zhi shi yong ma?", but I can't be sure if this means the exact same as I want, nor which characters I should use.

Basically the tattoo will have two meanings - the first being the jokes for myself, of a tattoo being permanent and also probably making whatever Chinese person who sees it laugh, because they think I've made a mistake, but then I can have a laugh on them when I tell them that I know what it means.

The second meaning would be is that nothing in life is permanent (which is something I've had trouble coping with), so we must always be prepared to laugh and find lightness in even the strangest things.

Any help would be appreciated!

[taylor04]

You've thought about this for a long time? No doubt in your mind that you want this tatood onto your body for the rest of your life?

[abcdefg]

Perhaps you could just use 永远 with a question mark. But it still might be real old 20 or 30 years down the road.

永远 = yǒngyuǎn = forever; eternal

[chrix]

永远 is "forever", 永久 would be more like "permanent", and might potentially even work for the OP's pun, but let's wait what the native speakers say (I personally think that a chengyu with appropriate meaning would "feel" better here)

[muyongshi]

How about 擦不掉?? It means unable to wipe off... which I think would work or you could do 纹身真的擦不掉吗？ if you want a sentence. That one is "tattoos really can't be wiped off???"

[Guoke]

How about the extreme contrast of

海枯石烂

过眼云烟

海枯石烂： forever; till the seas run dry and the rocks crumble

过眼云烟： temporary; as transient as a fleeting cloud

[skylee]

IMHO muyongshi's is not bad.