h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Or rather their equivilant. Does anyone know what older cultures (Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, etc.) used to use to signify that they were married?

Oh, I'd be interested to know. Especially if it means I can get out of wearing a ring...

You are permitted not to wear a ring if you're a man. I don't.

B

Not in my house. Apparently.

Jesus Christ. Is the ring around your ankle with a ball and chain attached?

B

No, that's ridiculous.

But my bollocks are in her handbag.

The male wedding ring is a recent import from the US. I have one but I rarely wear it, for reasons I'm sure I don't need to mention again...

As for the OP, the oldest known use of wedding rings was in ancient Rome I think.

Previous/other cultures used ribbons, braided rope/flowers, etc and bound the hands of each together just during the ceremony itself.

Handfasting is not the same as marriage, so I'm not sure there's much of an equivalency there.

It's not handfasting. That's just a modern term for people who want a ceremony to show, but don't want to actually get "married".

Okay.

I suppose what you're looking for though is more like some that's like a ring, but not a ring. Something that you can wear all the time to show you're married, but not a ring?

When is a ring not a a ring? When it's a... no, wait, that's doors...

For men, isn't the best indicator of marital status the presence or lack of a thumb-shaped bald patch?

I knew a chap years ago who had a ring tattooed on his finger. A nice piece of knotwork tattoo with his wife's name in it.

Are we talking specifically rings? In India the red dot on the forehead, the name of which escapes me, is used to signify that the person is married.

Oh, I thought that meant they were on Standby.

I can remember what the racist kid in my form at school called them, but that's not very helpful...

Did he call them red dots?

Perhaps it´s called a dai.

Bindi? Not to be confused with bhindi. You would't want to be walking around with okra on your forehead.

From W*k*:

'A common misconception urban legend or myth about the bindi in the western world is that only married Hindu women wear red bindis as a symbol of wedlock.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bindi_(decoration)


My wife and daughter have worn the stick-on jewelled ones, as have Muslim friends.