Actually, there is (or used to be) a "correct" answer to "Diamonds or Pearls"

[AlGore-08.com]

According to my Mom, who lived through the 1950s and lived to tell the tale... if an adult woman is asked "Do you prefer diamonds or pearls", unless she's being asked to pick the stone for her engagement ring, she should always say "pearls".

Answering "diamonds" marks her as a gold digging tramp.

Answering "pearls" marks her as a decent girl - - "the kind you marry and stay married to".

I'm just repeating what my Mom told me...

[Bucky]

1. Well then, Clinton is clearly unqualified to be president.

I'm switching my vote to Jeri Thompson. She's a real diamond girl, not a Pearl-Girl-in-Name-Only like Hillary.

[blondeatlast]

2. I remember my mom saying the same. I can't stand diamonds anyway, but

I looooove pearls in any way, shape, or form.

[Fly by night]

38. My momma used to ask "Do you want fries with that?"

Just kiddin'.

[AlGore-08.com]

39. So did mine. She worked her way through graduate school as a waitress

eom

[Fly by night]

43. Everyone should have to be a waitress/waiter at least once in their lives ...

... to teach them what hard work feels like and to teach them how (and why) to tip.

BTW, I was a bartender and short-order cook at Lum's next to Vanderbilt during my senior year in undergrad school there. (Paid my own way all four years doing all kinds of jobs, including being the only white worker in Vanderbilt's cafeteria my freshman year. Sure glad I'm old enough to have been able to afford to do that.)

Got to serve Al a few meals and also guard him playing pick-up basketball in the gym a few times.
Now if I could only work my ample ass off for him in the 2008 campaign. (Love your nickname.)

[Chulanowa]

49. Tell me about it!

My mother was a prep cook, waitress, and main cook at various points. I've been prep cook and waiter quite a bit.

I always overtip.

[daninthemoon]

3. That's wonderful. So, if Hillary wants both, what does that make

her, I wonder? Maybe a gold digger fronting as a decent girl? Hmmmm.

[Fresh_Start]

4. So intentionally lying about preference in order to deceive....

is the sign of a good woman?

[Sal Minella]

22. No. The decent woman is expected to REALLY PREFER pearls, not just say she does.

A 'fifties girl with aspirations of being a lady would naturally develop a preference for pearls. And they looked better with the short white gloves and hats with little veils. Trust me. I was there.

[Fresh_Start]

27. Decent fifties girls were also told to eat before going

out on dinner dates since they weren't supposed to exhibit a non-ladylike appetite.

In other words, a decent fifties girl was a marketing image and not reality.

[AlGore-08.com]

36. Has it really changed all that much other than the clothes?

For folks who think it has, I'd suggest hanging out for a week or two at a restaurant or coffee house frequented by college students. Young women - - and young men - - are still trying to be things and people they're not just to impress the opposite gender (or the same gender, depending... )

[Sal Minella]

45. I was never told that, to eat a lunch before going out to dinner.

But I do remember a scene like that in "Gone With The Wind."

[Fresh_Start]

47. my mom was a fifties girl,

she told me that. She still does today, so its pretty firmly ingrained in her psyche.

[Sal Minella]

50. Did your mom tell you about "garter bumps?"

The girdle syndrome was monobuttock and garter bumps on the front of the thighs under a smooth skirt. And of course, the Maidenform collie-nose bra. Them was the days, I tell ya.

We had something like a bustier, but called it a "merry widow." I loved mine. It gave me the illusion of having a waist. I couldn't breathe in it, but didn't mind. We had garter bumps with those, too!

[Fresh_Start]

52. My mom was proud. She had a 19" waist in her girdle

circle skirts, and always, always, always shoes too small and tight so her feet could appear more dainty.

[Sal Minella]

70. Suddenly I don't feel like talking about waists any more.

Size six and a half heels. I squeezed into a borrowed pair of size six-and-a-half heels (white) for a dance in college and couldn't walk normally for a week afterward. Toes were numb. But I had teeny tiny feet for that dance, I tell you. Dainty.* Fine-boned. It was very genteel at the time to be considered fine-boned.

Circle skirts and petticoats. Ah yes. And white bucks that you polished every day. And Coro jewelry so heavy it gave you scoliosis. (Only the fast girls had pierced ears.) And cake mascara in a tiny box with a tiny black brush (like a doll's toothbrush) that you scrubbed back and forth with a drop of water over this black brick that had "Maybelline" stamped in script on the top. Like water color cake, only black.
-----------------
*My mother used to say, "I wear a six and a half, but a seven is so comfortable that I always buy a nine." Ha! Your mother would like that I bet. I've thought of that more than once when I buy shoes now (size nine).

Anybody who can get nostalgic about the 'fifties has a bad memory. Women died all the time from botched abortions (I grew up with two orphaned boys and was in my thirties before someone told me what had happened to their mother).

I didn't care much for Ike then, but have grown fonder and fonder of him over the years....

[Quantess]

77. But those were the storybook "Good Old Days" that conservatives covet.

Everything looked so perfect in the old movies! I wonder if part of the mystique of the "good old days" is due to the old movies...

Fantastic post, BTW. I wish I could recommend your post.

[SharonAnn]

41. And one didn't wear diamonds in the daytime! Except for wedding/engagement rings.

Diamonds were for evening.

[Dorian Gray]

80. seems that way...

who cares, anyhow. It was a stupid question. I don't really give a crap how anyone were to answer it.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. compressed coal or oyster vomit?

let's be real.

[supernova]

7. Honey is bee vomit

[Maven]

32. The Spew Collection by Mikimoto.

For luxury you can taste, again and again.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

44. lol

I needed that before dindin.

[havocmom]

55. Abused mine worker or intentionally tormented shell fish?

Yep, reality.

[momster]

74. Cultured Diamonds or Natural Pearls

You can't tell the diff these days between real rocks and lab-rocks, because there is no diff. As for pearls, if you don't want artifically tortured oysters, you can always buy natural pearls...for a whole lotta money. The oyster won't care -- it's dead either way.

[havocmom]

82. I think CZs are prettier than the diamonds most mortals can afford

And glass 'pearls' suit me fine. Would rather the oysters die for my table than my neck ;)

[hlthe2b]

6. Saying diamonds today makes them the purveyer of

BLOOD DIAMONDS.... (with few exceptions, in terms of source)...

Pearls and moissanite, I say....(or like me, one of the few Colorado diamonds mined in this country, dating to the late 90s when a few gem-quality stones were mined in North Central Colorado, NW of Fort COllins--small but nice and free of inducing suffering)

[kestrel91316]

25. Diamonds near Ft. Collins??? Where? Poudre Canyon??

[hlthe2b]

53. Kelsey Lake on the WY border...

The original company closed down in late 1999, resold to an Australian then Canadian firm and now I think back to an Australian firm. Cost of mining is very high and the original company was underfunded I think, but the COLORADO DIAMOND line (mounted in little gold c's) were very popular, but sold only in a handful of pre-selected jewelry stores in Colorado. I think to find any left over stock or a resale piece would be very hard to find today, which is why I treasure my pendant.

I'm nor sure when (or even) if they are planning to resume active mining.. I think the current owner owns a S. African mine as well they are trying to get up and going... Diamon-ex or something like that... Google might pull up something... I used to take a look every few years or so, but the last article I remember reading was in the Denver BUsiness Journal about 8 years and (several owners ago).

There are some good quality diamonds there. An entire geologic strata (or whatever you call it) predictive of diamonds has been well documented. Unfortunately it is just very expensive to mine diamonds in the US...

[kestrel91316]

56. They have KIMBERLITE PIPES there? Who knew? Amazing.

[hlthe2b]

59. Ironically there was a well documented diamond hoax in late 1800s

in Northwest Colorado. Little did they know the real deal actually did exist. LOL

I hope they get it up and running sometime. I think the 4th or 5th largest diamond found in North America was found there--something like 30 carats and about 1/4 were gem grade.

[havocmom]

57. There have been small ones found not far from me in Montana also

De Nazis, errrr De Beers has sent some people scouting around here (have seen/met some) and up into Canada (from what I hear). Guess they are twitching at the possibility they don't have all sources locked up after all ;)

[hlthe2b]

60. there are several kimberlite deposits in Wyoming as well..

Undoubtedly there are quite a few untapped diamond sources in the US... Really, De Beers trades on the "rarity of diamonds," when in reality it is the distribution of diamonds that is in low supply, not the actual source--and they intend to keep it that way... No blood diamonds for me...

[havocmom]

63. When some were found near here, they said they came up via volcanic explosions

bringing materials up from below ground. Is that correct? :shrug: (about all I know of diamonds is that De Beers and such are a bunch of bastards who abuse whole populations then exploit fools with cash)

So, are the kimberlite deposits results of Yellowstone blows? The diamond area near me is closer to the Yellowstone caldera than I am. Lots of big formations from ash deposits in my location. Guess the heavier materials would have fallen to ground closer to the blast? It is said they are just there on the surface.

But, right after the discover was mentioned here, news blackout on the subject. Interesting. These were said to be industrial grade. I love them on saw blade, not on fingers! ;)

[hlthe2b]

73. No idea... but that would make some sense to me

I never had the opportunity to study geology, so perhaps someone who has might weigh in.. ;-)

[momster]

75. Canadian Diamonds

from the Yellowknife region. Cruelty-free, beautiful quality (though not large -- if you want a 5 carat rock, you'll have to go to other mines), and not quite as expensive as those that pass through the hands of De Beers. Check Bailey, Banks, and Biddle for their Canadian line.

There is also some nice quality material from Russia, though you might have a conscience problem there, what with all the crime.

[rucky]

86. Do Rocky Mountain oysters make pearls? n/t

[hlthe2b]

87. If only....

LOL

[buzzard]

8. Well personally I would prefer gold.n/t

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

9. But really,

why is that a question that gets asked of those wanting to occupy the highest office in the land? How much more trivail, banal and silly can we make the whole process? We are faced with problems of the highest magnitude and the questions are those? :shrug: :mad:

[Kurovski]

10. I myself greatly prefer a "string of pearls."

They're a classic when matched with a blue dress.

Historic, even.

[Swamp Rat]

13. Great song too!

:hi:

[Kurovski]

14. Ah, Glen Miller...

May I have this dance, Mr. Swampy? :hi:

[Swamp Rat]

16. Let's dance Mr. Kurovski!

:)

Vamos dançar maracatu em Rio!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CST_anGni20&feature=related

[Kurovski]

21. If you gotta wear a skirt, that's the way to do it!

:-)

[havocmom]

58. I fancy the tune by that name

Goes with anything and didn't piss off any oysters. ;)

[Kurovski]

61. I always clam-up and listen to it.

Remember when June Allyson as Mrs. Glen Miller cried when it was being played on the radio? (Or was that "Moonlight Serenade"?)

That June was A-class when it came to the tears.

An all-time favorite tune.

[havocmom]

64. Someday, we must chat about beloved old music

I've a funny story about a cowboy bar and a Glenn Miller request my bro jokingly wrote on a napkin (cuz I couldn't hear him for all the twangy music

[Kurovski]

66. Here's a link for folks to go listen to it.

http://www.tuxjunction.net/gm2-stringofpearls-gm.htm

It seems so funny to think how parents once got upset over this music.

Nasty, sexy stuff. :-)

I researched and found that June wept over "Little Brown Jug" in "The Glen Miller Story."

[havocmom]

67. Knew it was Little Brown Jug. He professed to hate that piece

Probably watched that film 57 times, no kidding. And the music is what I grew up listening to. Papa played sax and mom was a dancer and drummer. Interesting visitors from time to time when I was little.

[Kurovski]

68. Very cool.

I see. You knew, and you were holding out on me. :-) (And "Glen" is spelled with TWO "n's") Oops!

A family member played with Gene Krupa, but I don't know when that was. (probably before he hit it big) I don't see his name anywhere with Krupa's. I'll ask my mom for details.

Gene Krupa is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, where most of my family is stashed. We'd stop by his grave when visiting. There were always drumsticks stuck in the ground of his plot.

[havocmom]

69. Krupa. Nice. Trying to remember the name of another drummer...

am so tired tonight the mind is shot. Homely chap... grimaced all the time.... can picture him... ah, Buddy Rich. (my mind is toast tonight) Got lots of mixed messages about Rich when I was a kid.

Then there was the day I say Lionel Hampton leaving my dad's place as I came in... That was a thrill for me.

Neat about the drumsticks at Krupa's grave. Nice offerings.

[Kurovski]

71. I remember seeing Rich on The Tonight Show when I was a kid.

I remember him being pretty funny.

Are you saying he was a fan of strings of pearls as well?

Lionel Hampton. Oh yes.

[havocmom]

72. Actually, I recall Rich being a pain in the ass re anybody but Rich

Never heard of him praising Miller.(Or anyone; his signature was attitude;) ) But he did have a way with skins.

Stan Getz from the post big band era? Oh yeah. Nice man. Nice sound there too.

Sometimes, I wish I could have a day or two of my youth back, just to really appreciate some of the cameo players.

[distantearlywarning]

11. My favorite is the lowly garnet.

I think they're prettier than rubies, and don't cost nearly as much.

The only thing I asked for for Christmas this year was for hubby to get a garnet stone set in an antique ring setting that belonged to my grandmother.

[kestrel91316]

26. Garnet is my birthstone, and I really like it with heavy sterling.

Don't care for it with gold, BTW.

[Swamp Rat]

12. Al Gore would have chosen clean air and water.

:D

[Pastiche423]

19. I love you, Swamp Rat

:loveya:

[Swamp Rat]

20. beijo

:*

[Pastiche423]

46. Backatcha...

[JuniperLea]

15. I prefer the Judas Priest version of 'Diamonds and Rust'

oh, sorry... thought this was a music thread... guess I'm casting pearls before swine!

:P

[Swamp Rat]

18. "Victim of changes....!"

:D

[dave29]

17. The correct answer is neither.

I would gladly spelunk through the deepest darkest caves for a diamond, or dive deep into the ocean to find a pearl for my true love, but not if it was a prerequisite to that love.

[Berry Cool]

23. The correct answer is both, Prince would say.

If I gave u diamonds and pearls
Would u be a happy boy or a girl
If I could I would give u the world
But all I can do is just offer u my love

Just don't ask him for the rights to his videos.

[AlGore-08.com]

31. Prince doesn't know if Hillary is a boy or a girl?????

Maybe she should stop wearing those asbestos pantsuits if they're confusing people. ;)

[tammywammy]

24. I like sapphires

:shrug:

But I don't wear much jewelery anyways.

[Fresh_Start]

28. Sapphires or emeralds

amazing gems, gorgeous color

[tammywammy]

37. My birthstone is sapphire

And I've always loooooved it. It's just so pretty. Plus, overall I'm not a diamond fan...it's okay, but I like colored jewels better.

If I had to choose I'd go with pearls over diamonds. Especially those Tahitian black pearls.

[momster]

76. Sapphire Comes in Many Colors

which is why I love it. Jewelry artists are doing some amazing things with ranges of the colors, shading a butterfly's wings, for instance.

[tammywammy]

79. I've seen sapphires in other colors

But the classic blue is my favorite.

[momster]

85. If you like Emeralds

take a look at tsavorite (or green garnet). Brilliant green like the emerald but without the cloudiness or black inclusions that can make them look dull. Not cheap by any means, but much less than the equivalent quality emerald.

[Maven]

29. Well, we're not in the 1950s anymore, and neither, thankfully, is our sexual politics. nt

[gaspee]

30. I can't ***** believe

that in 2007 a woman of prominance is expected to answer that question. I'm incensed she was even asked.

Did anyone ask Obama or Edwards what little bright shiny object traditionally used to buy them that they prefer? Why no, I think not.

[Raine]

33. Diamonds (blood)

is definitely the wrong answer. When you think of the suffering and death involved I don't know why anyone can even think they are attractive. x(

[xchrom]

34. i was also raised believing that a woman is supposed to buy her own pearls

it was bad luck to get pearls as a gift.

don't know why or the background of that story.

other than that -- i LOVE pearls. gives me shivers.

[Fresh_Start]

35. I thought gift opals were bad fortune

but never heard it about pearls.

In fact, like many young women, my first string of pearls were a 'hand me down'. Because the string was child size, it was my mom's when she was a little girl.

[xchrom]

40. i've heard that about opals as well. -- i think

heirloom pearls don't count. -- i'm just guessing here.

like i say i don't know about the origins of the story.

but i really do love these old superstitions.

[Fresh_Start]

42. Apparently both superstitions exist

I wore pearls as a bride, apparently that is ill fortune as well. Its supposed to bring tears. I'll have to apologize to my husband because the impending tears are sure to happen any moment now. We've been married for almost 20 years. I guess the evil pearls have been biding their time.

[xchrom]

54. lol -- pearls are very clever -- and patient.

ah -- that's funny.

[LiberalHeart]

48. She should have said, "Boxers."

[tammywammy]

51. ...

:rofl:

[Amanita]

84. My thought exactly!

:-)

[UTUSN]

62. I respect your mom, but the STOOPID question was as STOOPID as BOXER/BRIEFS n/t

[havocmom]

65. Next up: Underwires v padded

x(

[watercolors]

78. How about Barara Bush, astring of them

around her throat, what the hell does that mean?

[havocmom]

83. Means she is waddle endowed

and hiding the fold-over

[DCKit]

81. Rec'd just for the insane outrage it sparked....

The freeper mentality doesn't suit y'all. Take a step back.

It's fun to watch, but DAMN.