It’s a rainy day, so of course I am at home watching videos of Scott Wagman and I can’t keep my eyes off of his pinky ring. Is this a bold fashion statement? A show of solidarity with Paulie Walnuts? I know Wagman has stacks and stacks of high society, but why he is reminding people of this by wearing something so gaudy and ostentatious as a pinky ring???
As a poker player, I am often exposed, and there is no other word for it than exposed, to men who wear pinky rings. They are the gentlemen to my left who usually win all of my money, twisting and turning their pinkie rings, waiting for me to bluff at yet another pot.
Actually the pinky ring has a noble history. According to the Brooklyn Public Library, the famous Reverend Henry Ward Beecher gave a sermon on February 5, 1860, during which he impersonated a slave auctioneer and asked the congregation of Plymouth Church for offerings. His dramatic and emotional speech roused the audience, and people tossed money and jewelry into the collection plates. $900 was raised to buy freedom for a young slave girl known as “Pinky” (Sally Maria Diggs). At the end of the “auction” Mr. Beecher picked up a ring from the collection plate, a large fire opal, and placed the ring on Pinky’s hand, saying “With this ring I do wed thee to freedom.”
Despite its noble lineage, the pinky ring has fallen into disrepute. GQ magazine is adamantly opposed to the wearing of a pinky ring, while other sources say the pinkie ring is symbolic of a more “open” lifestyle: “My wife and I recently hooked up with another couple. Yeah we’re swingers. The four of us promised each other no stepping outside our circle. The women wear necklaces and the men wear pinky rings on their right hands as a token of our promise to each other and our friendship.”
But maybe pinky rings are making a comeback. Remember this Wu Tang song about them, certainly this is what Wagman had in mind. I mean when I hear the name Ghost Face Killer, I think of Scott Wagman.