Is it cringe to get this phrase tattooed as a non-German person?

Originally posted by user dickingaround6969 in r/ AskAGerman

Original: Dec 8, 2025

Update: in post itself

Status: concluded

Mood: slice of life, history

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Original: Is it cringe to get this phrase tattooed as a non-German person and does it have any controversial meanings?

I am a woman of Korean descent. My grandfather was a Korean coal miner in Germany the late 1960s and close to his passing even after he developed dementia he would say "Glück auf" to us at times. To my understanding it is a greeting between miners wishing successful and safe mining trips.

Despite language barrier, Korean and German miners alike would greet each other this way. I love the historical context of this phrase and it is a phrase that motivates me in my daily life as a medical student.

If it is okay and not too cringe to get tattooed, what is the proper grammatical formatting? All together or with space in between?

Please and thank you. 🙏

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Comments:

Comment1: I think it's fine. I live in Ruhrgebiet and people still use it all the time. It's an important part of our history and culture and it reminds you of your grandfather. So I guess it's fine. It is indeed written "Glück auf" with space.

Comment2: Yes make sure to have the ü dots. "Gluck auf" kind of sounds like "now Drink already!"
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Comment3: I think adding an exclamation point would make it more clear that it’s a greeting

Comment4: It originally means that you wish for the person to come up to the surface again on the next day, so you'd say it before they went into the mines. Literally translated means "luck up". Nowadays, in my region at least, where mining has a rather large historical and cultural meaning, it's used just as a normal, kinda informal greeting, but not very often

Comment5: I´m from the Ruhrgebiet and I would celebrate this! As the other commenter said, its a very important part of our historical identity. I didn´t even know there where korean miners in Germany.
Thanks for asking!

OOP: Yes it was quite an integral part of Korean history. Many young men and woman (nurses) went mostly out of financial necessity but it was the money earned in Germany that allowed our grandparents' generation to build their homes and purchase their first businesses. Thank you again for your response ♡

Comment6: The issue with foreign language tattoos ain't the foreign language, but when the tattoos are spelled wrong, or the meaning is off. You see a lot of westerners with Asian tattoos (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, ...) symbols, that is either some gibberish, or means absolutely rubbish.

If that's the case, it's totally cringe, as it indicates that the person wearing it on their skin has no idea what it says, has no connection to it whatsoever, but by having it tries to impress with an alleged connection. That is cringe!

In your case: all is well! Because
1.) you got the letters right,
2.) you know the meaning,
3.) it even has a deeper meaning rooted in family history.

Now that is all right in my book: I'd only highly recommend you to not choose a fond that is too old fashioned, so please no "Fraktur" or anything that might remotely be associated with the period before 1945. Maybe use "German Kursive", the German handwriting.

Also make sure your tattoo-artist gets it right, maybe wait for a bit and get it done in Germany. That way you'd have a nice experience connected to a trip on top of the history and family background.

OOP: Thank you so much for your response and the information about the font! Bless you

Comment7: You could also pair it with a miners symbol like the lamp or something like that.

Comment8: ⛏️ or ⚒️

Comment9: Adding this here too: a canary bird would also fit the theme and might look less harsh than tools

OOP: "Canary in the coal mine" I have heard this phrase before, do Germans have a version of this? Thank you for your response
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Comment9: Well, yes. But it's not just a phrase, miners really took canary birds down into the mines before there were more modern detectors.
Birds in general are much more sensitive to changes in air quality, so they show symptoms of e.g. CO poisoning (Böse Wetter - literally "bad weathers" but translated to white damp) much earlier than humans.
In coal mining specifically, mine gas (mostly methane) is a huge problem because it can cause explosions (this phenomenon is called Schlagwetter in German - fire damp in English).

Comment10: No thats not Controversial.
I am working in a mining company in germany and all our e-mails end automatically with "gück auf"

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Update

Thank you everyone for your responses. I got the tattoo done last week. Here is a link for people who are curious. 

Glück auf

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Note: if you are unable to see due to regional restrictions, you can check the tattoo in alternate link.

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REMINDER: I am not OOP. Do not comment on original post or harass OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments