The Treachery of Text Tattoos

The Daily What | Security Threat of the Day

Yesterday morning, LA food stylist Adam C. Pearson was removed from a Delta plane after a fellow passenger brought Pearson’s suspicious behavior to the attention of the flight crew. That “suspicious behavior”? Pearson’s knuckle tattoo, which reads “Atom Bomb” — a reference to a childhood nickname. “I was just shocked,” Pearson told the LA Times. “All eyes were on me, I felt everyone staring at me and I was like, ‘I didn’t do anything.’ “

We already know that the flight security apparatus can't tell the difference between a thing and a picture of the thing. Apparently they can't tell the difference between a thing and the name of the thing.

This isn't Earthsea. No one speaks the Old Speech. You can't will something into existence just by knowing what it's called.

PS This is one more blackmark in my book against Delta.  At this point I'll pay a premium of $40 not to fly Delta, all things equal.