If you really want to know something about someone (that has tattoos),

Ask them about their tattoos.

If this doesn't teach you something important about them, then it's a silly tattoo.

My dove has a pretty concrete (though multifaceted) meaning in my life, but my love tattoo seems to grow and shift in it's meaning everyday. It meant some very particular things when I got it, and none of those things are any less meaningful now, but today it means "Look how far I've come."