At my high school they would use colored rubber bands. Now that I think about it, it seems like that’s a quick way to cut off your circulation. Good thing I didn’t have a boyfriend then.
I understood entirely and I have never even been in the US.
Unless you and your boyfriend had the same size fingers, you wrapped the thing with yarn until it fit your ring finger. Then you painted it with nail polish (preferably matching or coordinating with the color of the stone, or your preferred makeup–at prom time, it should match your dress as closely as possible) to seal it. After a while, the nail polish would start to crack a little, though, so you had to either re-wrap it or slap a layer of clear-coat on. Actually, I once saw someone spend an entire evening painting coat after coat of nail polish on the wrap to make it as solid as possible. Of course, her boyfriend had just left a note in her locker breaking up with her and asking for the ring back.
NOBODY wore rings on chains around their necks. Like using both straps on your backpack, it simply wasn’t done.
My mom graduated from high school in 1969 (give or take). She told me that when she was in HS girls would wrap their boyfriends rings with string, or yarn so that they would fit.
The ring on the necklace thing was done with baby rings. I think that’s what they were called at least, does any one know what I’m talking about? I remember hearing my sister complain to my mom for not having bought here a “baby ring” when she was born. I think she was in eigth grade at the time.
I never encountered the ring and yarn or the “baby rings” (other than in middle school) in high school or now in college.
I remember saving up money with a group of girl friends so that we could purchase an expensive skein of angora yarn specifically for this purpose. Acrylic yarn or wool would itch. We would never wear a heavy ring on a chain, because you could put someone’s eye out with that thing in PE class!
Thanks to all who replied!
Ooh, Zebra, I hadn’t thought of that. He’s a college sophomore—is that too early, if he pledged as a freshman? The young lady has just graduated from high school.
lavenderviolet and kunilou: It’s not that big a deal. As I said, the BF in question is sitting right next to her, so I thought it would be a given that if she’s wearing a ring too big for her, it’s his. She’s not showing it off; when she “holds up her hand”, it’s to underscore the announcement, “Okay; next question!” And the reason I’m mentioning the ring at all is to emphasize that she and her SO are the oldest non-adults in the group. The other girls are impressed that she can wear the ring so casually, whereas if a guy gave them his ring, they’d do everything with that hand, always turning it to best display the prize. The main character, male, is envious of the SO, wishing he himself could give a big honkin’ display of ownership like that to his own girlfriend.
So in short, I could find another way to indicate that this character is more self-assured and more clearly in a capital-R relationship than the others…but I just happen to like this one. What I’m now wondering, though, is whether high-school students would immediately recognize a fraternity ring as such.
When in the book set? Now, or in the past? I graduated college in 1999, and I’ve never even seen at fraternity ring, nor anyone who wrapped a ring in anything to wear it except those soft pastic things you buy to make your ring snugger after you lose weight. A few girls had rings on chains in high school, but not very many. I don’t know if giving a girl your ring is a very common practice any more.
I’m in college now and I’ve seen girls wear rings in that way, both in high school and in college. Most of the time it is the guy’s high school ring, but occasionally his frat, military, or college ring. The plastic things work ok if there isn’t a big difference in size between the ring and the girl’s finger, but if the difference is too big they are really uncomfortable. Yarn is still popular for girls with itty bitty fingers whose boyfriends have large rings. Wearing the ring around the neck is also an option, but the clunky nature of guys’ school rings can make that uncomfortable or odd-looking.
elfkin, it’s set in this decade.
I think it’s more a regional thing than a time thing. I don’t think trends like that totally reverse themselves in less than ten years. And yeah, the ring-wrappers tended to be people who were dealing with a ring three or more sizes too big for them, so the little plastic thingies wouldn’t work very well. If it was just a size or two too big, a lot of times it was just worn on the middle finger.
In the Chicago area, in the late 60s and early 70s, it was brightly colored yarn (preferably angora) or sometimes a chain. They were very cool, but if you had a really big boyfriend, you would have to sport this enormous thang on your hand. I don’t know how some of the girls maneuvered.
I have to say, this whole ring business seems very American, very quaint and very sexist. So it’s hard to imagine it being a modern custom.
Wearing your boyfriend’s ring; it’s practically a name tag establishing ownership, isn’t it? “Property of …”. Far more than a wedding ring, which is at least owned by the wearer.
It’s only one step away from branding… (ok, I exaggerate, but you get the idea.)
I went to college at a school with one of the biggest and oldest Greek systems - it is often used in magazine articles and on television when discussing Greek organizations. I was highly involved in Greek life, even holding elected positions within the system and NO ONE wore fraternity rings. I didn’t even know they existed. We were lavoliered (sp?), then pinned, then engaged. Hope this helps.
There are a lot of different traditions. In my fraternity, once you were an active member you could wear the official fraternity ring. The catch was, you had to buy it yourself. I know some fraternities had different rules, like those mentioned above. Your male character could easily be an active member by 10 weeks into his freshman year.
What the heck is lavoliered? Sounds kinda dirty. 
Sorry, it’s lavaliered. You can see one here: http://www.somethinggreek.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=121 - he gives you one with his fraternity letters on it, not your own. You wear it on a necklace and then once you are pinned, you can move it to your charm bracelet.
:::shrug::: Well, yeah!
I’m American, and my story is set in American, so there you go. The deal is, as I mentioned above, the main character wishes he could put a similar “Property of…” sign on his own girlfriend. “Quaint” and “sexist”? No doubt! But how interesting would the character be if he starts out perfect, with no room to grow and change? He will grow out of this kind of thinking before long. But he didn’t get it out of nowhere.