Mistake is tattoo much to stomach

2:01am Wednesday 12th December 2007

A TEENAGE girl who had her lover's nickname tattooed onto her stomach found out months after they split up that it actually said "supermarket".

Joanne Raine discovered the mistake after she walked into a Chinese takeaway to find out what the tattoo symbols really meant.

Miss Raine, 19, from Firthmoor, Darlington, the tattoo in March 2005 six months after she started going out with Andrew Blenche.

She had wanted to have a tattoo of Roo, Andrew's nickname.

She went to Skindeep Tattoo Parlour, in High Northgate, Darlington, and chose a capital r, capital o and small o from the wall and paid £80.

Miss Raine said: "They had Chinese symbols on the wall.

"So I picked capital r, capital o and small o, so they were all different."

She and Mr Blenche, 22, of Chilton, County Durham, split in July.

Last weekend, Miss Raine was standing outside a Chinese takeaway near her home when she decided to find out if it meant anything else.

She added: "I was outside a Chinese takeaway. I went in for a laugh to ask what I meant and they said supermarket or shops.

"I was just embarrassed. My friends have been laughing at me. I cannot cover it up and it costs too much to get it removed."

She said she regretted having it done and may write to the tattoo parlour to complain.

The Northern Echo has been given several variations for a Chinese translation of Roo, depending on the context. Each one is made up of just one symbol.

Skindeep was unavailable for comment yesterday.

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