Tattoo meaning - 渴望. Please help!

[pbarchuk]

Hi all,

So about 5 years ago I got these characters as a tattoo - 渴望. I researched it online and, as far as I know, the meaning is "desire" or "to wish for", "to hope" and that's exactly what I wanted to convey with it. So everything was fine for 5 years but over the last week I heard already two horrible stories about tattoos that meant some bad things so I kinda started freaking out. I would greatly appreciate if someone could explain to me what exactly these characters mean and whether I need to start looking for a tattoo removal master.

渴望

[GaHanna]

I am not an expert but since no one has replied I did a we search and can confirm that the tattooist has done a fine job. It means to long for, to yearn, so I guess that is what you were looking for. See:

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E6%B8%B4%E6%9C%9B/1308740

Many Regards.

[Kiz]

渴望 is derived from an ancient Chinese story. It basicly told a story about a king wished raining after a long period of drought during which, his people were suffering from no harvest and hunger, no water and thirst. And you should know the two characters in 渴望 渴 means thirsty and in Chinese it can mean thirsty and drought, and 望 means long for. After all, the king in that story is kind of hysterical and what 渴望 mean is kind of desperate. I guess that's something about the horrible story you've heard. I don't think you need to remove it, because negative stories can be found in almost every Chinese words. It's not a big deal.