General Modern Usage
As many families have done, in homage to the English tradition, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wore a signet ring handed down to him by his father James, and which was inherited by FDR's son James Roosevelt. All three generations wore the signet on top of their wedding bands, on their left pinkies. FDR's pinky signet was noted and admired by Sir Winston Churchill (who wore his own gold signet on a different finger).
Wedding bands (always a gift from wife to husband) were worn by most Western men in the Victorian age on the left hand pinky finger. Because of masculine limitations, men were encouraged to wear a second ring if they desired, but it was to be worn on top of the wedding band so as to keep both rings confined to one finger. It appears the custom for men to wear their two rings on the left pinky was purely English and German; in America, men either followed the English tradition or wore no ring at all until much later.
Read more about this topic: Pinky Ring
Famous quotes containing the words general, modern and/or usage:
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Insolent youth rides, now, in the whirlwind. For those modern iconoclasts who are without culture possess, apparently, all the courage.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945)
“...Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, “It depends.” And what it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is.”
—Kenneth G. Wilson (b. 1923)