… why don’t you give me a call?
From a conversation at work yesterday with a male colleague, where I discovered that they had once been engaged (but never actually got married), but that in the duration HE wore an engagement ring (as well as his fiancee) - is it common for men to wear engagement rings?
This led into some ‘ring research’ during which I discovered the following facts …
In certain countries (e.g Germany and Brazil), it is the norm for the man to wear an engagement ring.
Apparantly, if you wear a ring and then wash your hands with soap, bits of soap get caught in the ring.
Your hands expand in the cabin pressure when on an aeroplane. People sometimes find that their rings hurt them when they take flights.
Men have been known to lose fingers when hanging up goal nets as their rings get caught in the hooks/frame of the top of the goal, and it then rips their fingers off. Nice!
Cold hands make it easier to get your ring on and off.
A hot environment makes your hand expand slightly and thus harder to get your ring on and off.
Whatever ‘hand’ you are (e.g right handed), the fingers on your predominant hand will be slightly more chunky, and thus a ring which fits a finger on your non-predominant hand will usually not fit the same finger on the hand your normally use for things. (No gags about masturbation here please!)
The English use a lettering system when it comes to sizing rings. The Americans use a numbering system instead. The Japanese and Swiss also have their own different scales. There’s a fun ring size comparison program here.
I am a size ‘eight’ in US terms, which makes me a ‘P and a half’ in UK terms - when it comes to measuring a certain finger.
The best gag out of this when discussing making this list with friends last night was the moment when I got to say “I get to call this blog entry ‘My ring piece’ “. Oh how we laughed (For about two seconds).
After living in London for the first 33 years of my life and working for the 
So for ten weeks in June, July and August 2009, I drove 20,000 miles around the the lower 48 contiguous states of the USA visiting towns and places that shared the same name as places on The London
February 24th, 2006 at 9:53 am
Call me stupid but I never noticed that men didn’t wear engagement rings, I just thought they made less fuss than women…
February 24th, 2006 at 10:27 am
I have two (neither engagement or wedding) rings that I wear regularly: one on each middle finger. It is true that the fingers are chunkier on the predominant hand. I thought that it was just my hands being weird.
Is there a similar correlation with handedness and the relative sizes of your feet?
February 24th, 2006 at 10:54 am
How are toes measured? Are the same sizes used to measure fingers used to measure toes? Does anyone here wear a ring on their toe/feet?
February 24th, 2006 at 11:12 am
I’m recently engaged but I don’t have an engagement ring, obviously when we do get married we’ll both have wedding rings. I think it is more of a women thing…
February 24th, 2006 at 11:22 am
I’ve never had an engagement ring - primarily because I don’t like wearing them. Hell, half the time I don’t even like wearing watches.
It’ll be interesting having to wear a wedding ring all the time…
February 24th, 2006 at 11:50 am
I’ve worn a ring on my right ring finger since 1997 because an ex-girlfriend gave me one (wahey) and when it broke a couple of years later it didn’t feel right without one so I got a new one which I’ve had ever since.
February 24th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
The husband didn’t wear an engagement ring, but does wear a wedding ring, and being his first ring it took him a lot getting used to, and took losing it for 2 days to stop him fiddling constantly with it (he couldn’t being himself to tell me he had lost it, as it was my dads wedding ring) He finally broke down and told me, and I replied with “What, that ring on the floor in front of you?” *L*
February 24th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
–My dad flew jet fighters and helicopters for 25 years and said rings were too dangerous for military pilots to wear and thus never did. I have no doubt he was eternally faithful to my mom and a ring made absolutely no difference whatsoever in their marriage.
–Engagement rings for men is NOT the norm here in the States as far as I know.
–I can’t paddle outrigger canoes with any jewelry and always take off my wedding/engagement rings to paddle. During the season, it is just easier to leave it off the whole time. When I was PG with twins, my hands got far too swollen to wear any jewelry. Steve takes his off because he works with a lot of heavy equipment.
–I have a toe ring on the middle toe of my left foot. In Hawaii, our feet are always out and visible and a group of my girlfriends once all got together and got them on the same day. I’ve never lost it because it is fits so snug. The goood gold ones are expensive–always at least $30 or $40 for some reason.
–I have heard that in some European countries, it doesn’t matter which finger the wedding band is worn on.
–Is ‘ring piece’ another English pun like ‘bog roll’ that I should be getting?
February 24th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
I have been provided with some “great” jewellery related injury pictures recently. I can forward them to you if you fancy seeing what a “degloved” finger looks like (ew).
February 24th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
I don’t wear any rings at present a dread the thought of ever having to - what alternatives are there?
February 24th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
I would have been very offended if my hubby Ross didn’t wear a wedding ring after our wedding. It was his first
ring of any sort and did take a bit to get used to, now he wouldn’t go out without it on. On the engagement ring
side, I think it’s the “New Thing” in NZ…I know of a couple of men who wear engagement rings. They tend to be
skinner than a wedding ring but still marks the commitment. Bring on the diamonds I say - bling!
February 24th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
Ok.. who wants to tell Kris what a “ring piece” is? Anyone? No?
OK, I’ll do it then.
Umm.. think ‘rectal’ Kris, and take it from there… do I have to expand? (’Expand!’ Geddit? God, i’m so funny…)
February 24th, 2006 at 11:53 pm
12. Eeech. You mean it is a Brokeback Mountain thing?
February 25th, 2006 at 12:06 am
#13 - Did you see this on BoingBoing? Fascinating story of how the De Beers cartel pumped up the value of a relatively common gemstone, the diamond, by conducting a global psychological manipulation campaign.
“In its 1947 strategy plan, the advertising agency strongly emphasized a psychological approach. “We are dealing with a problem in mass psychology. We seek to … strengthen the tradition of the diamond engagement ring — to make it a psychological necessity capable of competing successfully at the retail level with utility goods and services….”
Rest of the link is here: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198202/diamond
February 25th, 2006 at 1:48 am
Reading between the lines.. I think Geoff maybe trying to hint at something here…
February 25th, 2006 at 11:51 am
i had that thought too
February 25th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Me? Hint at something? Surely not!
February 25th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
Why would Geoff need to hint at things, he’s always so open and too the point with all of the stories.
Incidentally, I am a U and a half on my non-chunky hand.
February 25th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
Most of the Sri Lankan Tamil males of my generation will wear a wedding ring on the fourth finger of their right hand.
Of my parents generation, unless they married abroad or are Christian neither the bride nor groom wears a ring.
Congratulations Geoff.
February 25th, 2006 at 6:31 pm
When I got engaged I bought my fiance an engagement ring in return for mine. I think there’s a nice symmetry to it. Although my engagement broke off in the end, so maybe it’s a sign of doom?
And I think your site is fantastic, by the way. Been meaning to comment for ages and say hello!
February 25th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
If you are hinting at something, then Congratulations Geoff!
February 25th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
Geoff, when I got engaged to your Dad, I had a diamond (of course) and he had a signet ring, which he wore on his wedding finger.
Back in the 60’s & 70’s men didn’t tend to have a wedding ring (unless you were upper class), so he carried on wearing it after our wedding.
Problem with you is, if you wear a ring now, where do you put a wedding ring?
Clean answers on a postcard please! Congrats by the way.
February 26th, 2006 at 1:05 am
When I get my wedding ring, the plan is to move my engagement ring from my left hand to my ring finger on my right hand, and then wear both.
Oh. And that’s kind of given the game away, hasn’t it? Well just in case you hadn’t figured it out yet, then know you all know!! Okay?
I should point out that the picture above is not actually of my hand or ring! Just a random picture that I thought was nice off of google images.
February 26th, 2006 at 2:24 am
OMG congratulations!!!!!
YAY YAY YAY
February 26th, 2006 at 4:14 am
So is there someone else involved?
February 26th, 2006 at 4:38 am
CONGRATULATIONS! Now a proper post please with details!
February 26th, 2006 at 4:40 am
BTW I did buy my fiance an engagement ring. He wore it proudly for years along with the wedding band. Now he rarely does as he is firefighter and any rings forbidden. (Or so he tells me anyway
February 26th, 2006 at 8:58 am
It’s simply amazing how friendly these tour guides can be.
Congratulations!!!!!!!
February 26th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Congratulations
Nice idea about the rings.
Any idea how to convince a guy that it’s a good thing to wear a wedding ring?! lol
February 26th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
wow congratulations !!!!
February 26th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
I had a couple of people ask, so it seemed like I may have been being too subtle, so in case you didn’t get it, the blog title refers to an old Abba song, called “Ring Ring”, the lyrics of which are here.
But I liked the double meaning off “Giving me a call” and being engaged too. Or am I trying to be too clever? Please tell me if you got it, I’d like to think that someone did!
February 26th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
That’s VERY clever!
February 26th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
I second the motion promoted in comment 27
February 26th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
i third it, being too young to get abba referances and being generally to tupid to understand in general
February 26th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
Geoff, is your tour guide Danish? The idea you suggest is pretty much what they do in Denmark… i.e. wear a ring on the fourth finger of one hand and then when married swap it to the other hand, however they don’t add another ring, just the one.
congratulations på Deres forpliktelse
February 26th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Is my ‘tour guide’ Danish? No they are not! They are native to the country where I keep heading west to recently!
The ring swap idea was my own. I wanted to wear an engagement ring. I wanted the world to to know that I am happy, engaged, and ‘taken’ man! And I love it!
Shall I spill the beans then?
February 26th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Get on with it, before we all die of old age!
We want a full and complete (but not graphic or lewd) disclosure, for the record.
February 27th, 2006 at 12:05 am
This is why Geoff must stop saying ‘car park’ and learn how to say “you’re welcome!”
Bring on the New Jeff. Traitor to the Crown!
February 27th, 2006 at 12:50 am
Booo! Hisss! The fall of the House of Marshall! The great heresy!
You are no son of mine, “Jeff”!
I don’t believe that you still haven’t disclosed the gender of the tour guide!!
February 27th, 2006 at 1:49 am
Ok boys and girls, here’s the Geofftech exclusive - nestled deep down in an innocuous comments entry.
My ‘tour guide’ is indeed female!
She’s American, and lives in Charleston, South Carolina - hence my two trips there this year so far.
We’re all loved up, and are indeed engaged.
I intend to head over to the USA myself in the next couple of months.
And that’s all you’re getting!!!
Am tempted to lock down the comments on this thread, but as long as you all promise to play nice, I guess I can leave it open for a bit…
February 27th, 2006 at 8:52 am
I don’t think there’s anything at all in that comment that we hadn’t already been told in previous comments. You are not yet allowed to take the privileges permitted by the 5th amendment!
February 27th, 2006 at 11:34 am
“I intend to head over to the USA myself in the next couple of months.”
For good, or for a short period of time? (Already in tears about the future absence of tube-related nonsense in your blog!)
February 27th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Except I haven’t done any tube-related nonsense in my blog for ages! But I do have something quite cool that I could post today/tomorrow actually.
Charleston is devoid of a subway system. My, how will I cope?
February 27th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
You’re going for good then?
February 27th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Marrying the tour guide. Now that puts a new spin on emigration.:P
Congrats Geoff!
February 27th, 2006 at 8:08 pm
OMG!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! *grins* Thats such wonderful news Geoff! And sorry if I was terribly slow on the uptake!
And a great area to go! I’m actually going to be visiting that vicinity later in the year, so I shall have to drop in for a cuppa
February 27th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Fimb - Whereabouts?
February 27th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
Are you really off then or is “tour guide” coming over this side of the water?
When do we get to find out her name and what she looks like? After all, I think we all need to vet her first!
February 27th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Atlanta area, Georgia. One of the husbands best mates has moved there.. We were planning a cross-US train trip for earlier this year, but the rain forests of Costa Rica are being done first, and so Georgia will be done later in the year.. And I’ve always wanted to go to Charleston, and we can get a train between the two places *g*
February 27th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Re: Lack of Subway system in Charleston - You’ll have to invite all of us over to stay, and we’ll have to persuade the local transport department that’s it’s a necessity, and we’ll wave placards and banners until they agree to build one!
Then in 10 years time or however long it takes, you can be the first person to do a ‘Subway challenge’and we can all join you. Looking at the pretty town of Charleston, I don’t somehow think the Town Planners would allow it!