[ Home | FAQ-Related Q&As | General Q&As | Answered Questions ]

Search the Q&A Archives

...MEANING OF THE SPIDER WEB ON THE ELBOW.

<< Back to: rec.arts.bodyart: Tattoo FAQ 9/9--Bibliography

Answer by 13 Chopperz
Submitted on 1/8/2004
Rating:	Rate this answer:
About the Spider Web tattoo... Actually a spider web tattoo on the outside of your elbow means nothing significant. It originated in the late 70's and early 80's with the Punk Rock crowd who saw it on ex-cons and thought it looked cool. Now a spider web tattoo on your body DID originate as a prison tattoo with 2 meanings. It was worn mostly but not solely by Arian Gang inmates who in the late 50's and early 60's basically ran every prison in the U.S. If it was worn on the right side of your neck it did infact mean that you had killed someone while in Prison and were a predetor and not prey. If it was worn on the INSIDE of your elbow it meant that you were a drug addict and was a symbol to all who sold drugs in the prison system that you were a potential customer and were always looking to be approached by drug dealers in the Prison. After the Spider Web tattoos gang members in prison started wearomg a "tear-drop" under there eye. That too meant the same as a spider web on the neck. It meant that you had killed someone in the prison system. It was adopted in the 70's and 80's after guards started cracking down on homemade prison tattoos. It was easier to make than an intrecate spider web and you had less of a chance getting caught with contraband by a prison guard.

Answer by SpiderEwan
Submitted on 5/4/2004
Rating:	Rate this answer:
I have spiderweb on my elbow and also work in a bar where i get asked about it a lot, usually just curious people mostly who like and then decide to call me "spiderman" all nite, only occasionally do i get some idiot accusing me of being a Nazi - and almost always because they read somewhere its a nazi thing! However most open minded people take the time to ask me about and i always tell them - PUNK ROCK! Thats why i got one, its a brilliant reminder to me of when i was a young punk and having the time of my life. However, i also look at it as representing a web (d'uh!) whether that be deciet, addiction, the system or painful lesson it is worth remembering. I know a lot of people with this tattoo - many of whom are skins, all of whom as it happens are extremely hostile to Bonehead Nazi skins - they are used to their culture being appropriated by people who don't understand it. So yeah, predictably enough - it has a different meaning for everyone who wears it - so why should we let it become something so negative and hateful? Thats how those scumbags win! As for the 8-ball, i have one also - as far as i always understood it, it means chance and luck -u ever noticed that so many traditional tattoos are good luck charms - No.7s, Racing Flags, Horseshoes, Anchors, Ships, 13s, Aces etc. As for the "cool" excuse,thats just annoying - it's still very much dangerous walking about in Glasgow covered in colorful tattoos, looking like a freaky punk.

Answer by tony
Submitted on 6/7/2004
Rating:	Rate this answer:
Clock faces without hands Doing time Tombstones with numbers on them The years they were inside Tombstones with numbers and RIP Mourning the death of a friend Spider or cob webs on elbows or shoulders Doing time Eight balls Behind the eight ball or bad luck One laughing face, one crying face Play now, pay later or my happy life, my sad life SWP Supreme white power Peckerwood White pride (males) Featherwood White pride (females) Viking themes Common Caucasian tat Granite block walls Time in Old Folsom Prison 100 % pure Pure white or Anglo Cell window with sun or bird showing Waiting to get out Face of female crying Has someone on the outside waiting SUR Southerner Norteano Northerner Prison block wall with bricks falling outward Inside wanting to get out

Answer by Vogemudet
Submitted on 6/28/2004
Rating:	Rate this answer:
I have two spider-webbed tattoos on my elbows and I liked them because I like the Mafia...it lets others know you are serious about something due to the pain involved in the process.lol Really I am an oil painter and believe it comes from the Greek goddess Arachne who spun beautiful webs. I disdain the Aryan implications.I do get people asking me where I got them and they are expecting an answer of some prison name rather than a tattoo parlour...I end up meeting alot of ex-cons on the street so beware of getting them...at least when I am in public I can where a long sleeved shirt for a formal function...I get no tattooes that are visible only from the shoulder to the wrist line like the Samurai...I don't get the hands or the neck. Some friends are relieved when I wear a long sleeved shirt, they think we might get shot at. For Emma-Leigh: If you're gay you get a left ear pierced and a lesbian gets multiple piercings on that same ear.I'm not gay either...

Answer by Vogemudet
Submitted on 6/29/2004
Rating:	Rate this answer:
QueenOfHearts:I think a black widow tattoo would mean your love is poisonous...kina a dark meaning because the Black Widow kills her mate in the end, it could mean "watch-out-for-me" to your mates. Wolfmomrose:Teardrop would mean you killed someone or your crying because you're paying for your deeds ie locked up and probably committed murder... similiar to the clown crying or the Drama Masks "Laugh-Now-Cry-Later". I remember hearing when I was at a Marine Corps Cadet's boot camp that blue is the color of leaders because you are setting your sights high and always looking past the horizon... Also: green meaning you are concerned with earthly matters...there are more meanings to colors but blue can mean the "sea" or the obvious ones "water" or "sky".

Answer by Vogemudet
Submitted on 7/4/2004
Rating:	Rate this answer:
Racist Convicts: The spider web design tattoo is often found on the arms or under the arms of racists who have spent time in jail. In some places, one apparently "earns" this tattoo by killing a minority. However, non-extremists may sometimes sport this tattoo as well, unaware of its other symbology, simply because they like the design. I simply like the design...plus my last name sounds like Halloween so I was always called my first name then Halloween so I grew up liking Halloween...I like some of the reasons for getting a spider-web tattoo that have been posted on this forum and will decide for myself the multiple meanings that I have found. So now I have more than one meaning. I think knowing about number tattoos has opened my eyes but most are used by hate groups: 18 means Adolf Hitler 88 means Heil Hitler...the number of the letter. There are more...I see people on forum posts sporting these numbers in their name and you know they're racist...or 14 for 14 words "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." The ADL contains a hefty database. Check it out...