Many a story has been told of a tattoo that ended in regret, notably centering on drunken dares or unfortunate reminders of relationships gone sour.
But one social media star was left “lost for words” – and in floods of tears – after her “dream” design suffered an unfortunate (or perhaps intentional) typo.
Tia Kabir, 19, from Australia, told her 92,000 TikTok followers that she’d travelled all the way to Bali to get inked, saying: “I’ve been dreaming to get this tattoo because I just don’t get tattoos all the time, I get one every few months.”
Then, pointing at the design on her arm, she explained: “It’s supposed to say ‘Angel Energy’.”
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But instead, as we can all see, it says “Energy Angel”.
Her lament racked up more than four million views and 127,000 likes in just two days, as fellow TikTokers shared their condolences and other thoughts on the mishap.
@tiakabirrIm lost for words #tattoo #fypシ #fail #foryou
“Sending you all my Engery you Angel,” wrote one wellwisher.
“Honestly it’s not that bad it can still be meaningful and looks well done,” reassured another.
However, hundreds of others were less understanding.
“I mean angel energy isn’t any better,” wrote one unsympathetic viewer.
“You know you can look at the stencil before they start tattooing right?” another pointed out.
Indeed, countless commentators remarked that Tia only had herself to blame.
“You didn't confirm the stencil with them before they started tattooing? That's on you girl.”
“Moral of the story,” said another critic, “Get tattoos in your own country.”
In an interview with news.com.au, after her video became a viral sensation, the teenager defended her alleged naivety at the time.
She insisted that she’d provided the tattoo artist with a piece of paper that read “Angel Energy”, but it came up too big on her arm to be used for the stencil.
“So after they made it a tiny bit smaller, somehow it flipped around saying ‘Energy Angel’ but I didn’t notice,” she said.
“It was only after it was done that I checked it. It put me into shock.”
In a separate interview with LADBible, she explained that she burst into tears when she saw the “monstrosity” on her arm, and her reaction caught the attention of fellow customers.
"Even the staff were laughing and talking in their local language which brought me to tears," she told the site.
"After asking reception what could be done the best I was told is that it has a different meaning and that the English is the other way around."
She claimed that she’d been told she was entitled to a refund but, when she returned the next day, staff refused to give her her money back.
In a subsequent TikTok update, Tia said she’d been bowled over by the attention her video had received and admitted that she found it all “kind of exciting”.
She then reassured her fans that, “thank God”, her tattoo had been fixed and now reads: “Energy of an Angel”.
She ended her clip by thanking her supporters for all the “unconditional love” they’d shown her, before addressing her “haters” only to stick her tongue out at them.
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