Help translating "Poor Impulse Control"

[bodleyca]

I am trying to translate this phrase into Kanji for a tattoo. It was tattooed on a characters forehead in one of my favorite books.

So far I have:
貧 :hin: poor

貧弱な: hinjakuna: poor, meager, limited

I could not find just the word impulse but I liked this one:
出来心: dekigokoro: sudden impulse

And for control I found
拝見 : haiken : verification, control

Its the control part I'm not sure of. There are other symbols for control (for instance 管理), and I'm not sure which would be best in this context. Also how accurate is 貧 for poor. I think 貧弱な would be closer in meaning for what I want, but I want it easily tattooed as well so the fewer symbols the better.

Ideally I want either 3 symbols or a 3x3 block. The 3x3 would be less open to interpritation, but less painful and expensive also.

貧弱な
出来心
(control)

Any help would be appreciated.

[astaroth]

Weirdly enough that tattoo would sound (to me at least) weird in English too ...

[Infidel]

Snow Crash. You just don't get a better protagonist than a Katana wielding pizza delivery boy for the mafia driving a heavily customized off road truck with armor plating. Your pizza is delivered in 30 mins or the Mafioso and family will come to your door and apologize in person. And then have the errant delivery boy "dealt with"


I'm pretty sure that the tattoo was in English on his forehead.

[Sairana]

Weirdly enough that tattoo would sound (to me at least) weird in English too ...

Yeah, but writing it in KANJI makes it insta-cool! Jeez, don't you know nothin'....?

[astaroth]

Yeah, but writing it in KANJI makes it insta-cool! Jeez, don't you know nothin'....?

dang! I am so not cool, man!

[edit] Thinking about the 3x3 block thing ... what about the sator
sator
arepo
tenet
opera
rotas
I know it's latin ... but what's the difference anyway?

[becki_kanou]

The phrase you have in Japanese makes absolutely no sense. Why do you want to permanently mark your body with something you can't even read?

Go with it in English, on your forehead, just like Raven. It's much cooler that way.

[astaroth]

Oh it's a book!

It took me a while to search the net and find the origin of these three words ...

[Infidel]

Dmitri "Raven" Ravinoff
An Aleut native who works as a mercenary. His preferred weapons are harpoons, spears, and glass knives — undetectable by metal-searching security systems, reputed to be molecule-thin at the edges and able to penetrate the bulletproof windbreakers which most characters in Snow Crash rely on for protection. He travels on a motorcycle whose sidecar has been replaced with a hydrogen bomb that will automatically detonate if his brain ceases to emit electrical impulses. Raven has the phrase "POOR IMPULSE CONTROL" tattooed on his forehead, an indication that he has been arrested for committing a violent crime at least once in his life. His stated goal in life is to "nuke America" in retaliation for the historical treatment by America of native Aleutians, such as using their lands for nuclear testing (e.g., at Amchitka). His combination of fighting ability, conscienceless killing, and personal nuclear umbrella prompt Stephenson to describe Raven as "the baddest motherf***r in the world".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash

[becki_kanou]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash

You might want to edit that to make it grandma-friendly.

[Gundaetiapo]

Well, the Space ALC yields results for "poor control" and "impulse control". You can work it out from there.

[Infidel]

Point, and retro edited with your suggestion.

OP, the WHOLE POINT of the POOR IMPULSE CONTROL tattoo was that it is NOT COOL. It is a punishment that is meant to warn strangers about the person in front of them.

[Harisenbon]

Although I'm highly against the tattooing of kanji that you can't read on yourself, I do own snow crash in Japanese, and can go look up what "poor impulse control" was officially translated into.

I don't remember it having the same impact as the english version, though.

[astaroth]

He travels on a motorcycle whose sidecar has been replaced with a hydrogen bomb that will automatically detonate if his brain ceases to emit electrical impulses.

This is the most hilarious sentence I ever read
Well, that and the molecule-thin edge of the knife ...

[Disco]

Okay miss, I'm going to tattoo a nice, "ばか" on your forehead. It means- strong-will, courage, and determination.

[becki_kanou]

Although I'm highly against the tattooing of kanji that you can't read on yourself, I do own snow crash in Japanese, and can go look up what "poor impulse control" was officially translated into.

I don't remember it having the same impact as the english version, though.

I'd be very interested to see what translation they chose as well. Please do post it!