Rihanna Defends Her New Tattoo Typo

Rihanna is defending a recent neck tattoo she had done from self-professed linguistics experts throughout the blogosphere. According to MTV, the “Umbrella” singer stopped by New York tattoo parlor East Side Ink Tuesday night to get a French-language tattoo which translates to "rebel flower," which incited a debate as to whether or not the tattoo is grammatically correct.

The tattoo, which reads “rebelle fleur,” has been criticized for having the word order inverted. Gawker.com argued that, since the adjective usually comes before the noun in French, the phrase should say “Fleur Rebelle,” but in a text message sent to her tattoo artist, Keith “Bang Bang” McCurdy, which was leaked to OK! Magazine, Rihanna claims there’s no mistake, even predicting the media scrutiny the tattoo might receive. "Rebelle fleur translates to rebel flower, NOT rebelious flower,” she allegedly wrote, “its 2 nouns so in that case fleur does not HAVE to be first! Fyi, cuz they will ask.”

This latest addition joins about 13 existing tattoos on the pop star, including a cascade of stars down her back, and Roman numerals down her shoulder, as well as the phrase "never a failure, always a lesson," which Rihanna told Ellen DeGeneres is tattooed backward on her chest so she can read it in the mirror. That tattoo symbolizes her outlook after she was beaten by ex-boyfrend Chris Brown. "It’s basically saying that it’s okay to make a mistake — just don’t make them twice," she told DeGeneres in January. –ANDREW BANKIN