Amanda Seyfried and two of her friends and co-stars have matching “minge” tattoos on their feet. To her minge just a funny nickname, even her instagram handle is @mingey. But it’s a very vulgar slang term in the UK, describing a woman’s hairy labia.
The joke originated on the set of the 2008 film Mama Mia! Actor Colin Firth would say “minge” and Amanda, being American, didn’t know what it meant. British actress Rachel McDowall had to explain it to her. Rachel has a bunch of tattoos but Amanda had never gotten one before and was curious what it was like. So she got the matching “minge” tattoos with Rachel and a third Mama Mia! actress Ashley Lilley. The three of them got to be very close during the filming of the movie. She told Seth Meyers:
We’re best friends, my girlfriends Rachel and Ashley. We got “minge” tattooed on our feet. It’s a term of endearment and in England it means ‘vagina.’ But in the U.S., where I spend most of my time, it just doesn’t mean anything. So we commemorated our friendship with “minge” tattoos.
It turns out she’s not so into tattoos and probably won’t get another, at least not on her own. She told 5 News:
I didn’t really love the experience — I liked the bonding experience I had with my girlfriends.
However she loves the resulting tattoo and told Chelsea Handler:
It’s to make me laugh, and every time I look at it, I do.
People in England aren’t so amused. When she first got the tattoo she would cover it up with makeup when coming to the country. Describing the reactions that she gets to the vulgar ink while in the UK, she says:
They roll their eyes, it’s always a judgement. Which is fine. It’s fine because it means so much more to me than vagina.
