Shopping
Guys, I don’t think most of you are ready for this. Yesterday, Heidi and I went shopping. At the jewelry store.
Don’t worry. Just browsing at the moment.
One lady had the nerve to even start talking upgrades down the road. [Gulp.]
The dork I am and in true Sam fashion, I then had to look up the history of this tradition. Apparently, De Beers established the diamond engagement ring as a sacrament shortly after the Great Depression. At that time, the cachet of diamonds was based on the fact that they were very rare. But in the late 19th century, enormous diamond deposits were discovered in southern Africa. De Beers had to find a way to keep up the price of something that was no longer quite so rare.
De Beers then chose to market their diamonds to not only the rich, but to the common (wo)man. They advertised the diamond engagement ring at every high school. They got Paramount Studios involved by having female stars wear diamonds and by creating diamonds films. (Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” and such.) That advertising campaign created the myth. Those impressionable young people began to believe that a diamond ring was an essential part of the courtship ritual.
Who would have guessed? Next, someone’s gonna try and tell me Valentine’s Day was developed by a bunch of greedy greeting card manufactures. Oh, wait….
Anywho, apparently De Beers also came up with the concept of the 10 Year Anniversary Diamond, the man diamond and the whole concept of the 2 months salary as a benchmark.
Thanks, assholes.
An Interesting Note:
The diamond budget guideline is one months’ salary in the United Kingdom, two months’ salary in the United States and three months’ salary in Japan.
October 4th, 2005 at 9:51 am
You can start playing taps now.
Just remember, no matter how bad it gets once your married, all my lawyer friends have said this “it’s cheaper to keep her.”
October 4th, 2005 at 10:12 am
Also in Sam fashion he breaks the news on the blog. If it is in fact news.
October 4th, 2005 at 4:21 pm
Sam, there are 2 things that I’d like to comment on. First, the man diamond is a new term that even I’m not familiar with and I like to consider myself in the know about these types’ of things. Second, the two months’ salary is only a benchmark. You can always go well above that figure if you choose to do so. It always helps to keep the ladies happy. Oh, I guess there’s one more thing. So when are you going to pop the question?