Shay Mitchell’s new tiny tattoo is a secret 90s throwback
Shay Mitchell got some new ink from celeb tattoo artist Jonboy, and it’s actually a hidden throwback to the 90s.
The tattoo consists of the Roman numerals “I IV III” on Shay’s left forearm. They’re written really tiny — you can barely see them in the pic.
In Roman numerals, I means one. IV means four. And III means three. That’s one, four, three. So what do these numbers mean?
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Well, this is where the 90s #tbt comes in. Back in the day, people used to use beepers to get each other’s attention. It was basically like sending a one-way text message, but you could basically only text one short word or number at a time. Like you’d beep your friend “911” if there was an emergency, “CALLME” if you wanted them to call you, and “143” if you wanted to say “I love you.”
Beepers couldn’t make calls, by the way, so if you got beeped and wanted to talk to the person, you had to scrounge up some quarters and actually touch a pay phone. The 90s were crazy!
Anyway, why did 143 mean “I love you”? Because there’s one letter in “I,” four letters in “love,” and three letters in “you.” One, four, three. 143. I IV III. Get it?
So now you know what Shay Mitchell’s Roman numeral tattoo really means. Who’s it meant to be about? That’s gonna remain a mystery.
[H/T Refinery 29]
