Tattoos don't have one historical origin point that we know of, but why do we English speakers call them all tattoos?

The word is an Anglophonic modification of Tatau, a Polynesian word used in Tahiti where English Captain, James Cook landed in 1769 and encountered heavily tattooed men and women.

Stories of Cook 's findings and the tattoos his crew acquired cemented our usage of tattoo over previous words like scarring, painting and staining and sparked a craze in Victorian English high society.

We might think of Victorians having Victorian attitudes about such a risqué thing, and you can find such sentiments and even bans on tattooing throughout history.

But while publicly some Brits looked down their noses at tattoos, behind closed doors and away from their noses, lots of people had them.

Reputedly, Queen Victoria had a tiger fighting a python, and tattoos became very popular among Cook 's fellow soldiers who used them to note their travels.