By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Maureen McNamara wears a silver Tiffany ring on her
thumb and three rings on her (other) ring finger.
It’s all in
the accessories
The thumb is the new
By Tim Ryan
ring finger, but why? Who knows . . .
Star-BulletinHere's a new rule of thumb: wear your rings on them. Lorraine does. The flight attendant for a major airline who's too shy to give her real name wears no jewelry other than two rings on her left thumb, one above the knuckle, the other below.
The look is exotic, but thumb-ringers have no one reason for their choice of digits.
When asked why, Lorraine smiles. "I'm an untraditional girl. It seems sexier; it stands out, attracts attention.
"Some men are drawn to the look as if they can't help themselves from asking about it."
Is there a sexual connotation?
"Probably," she says, but politely refuses to explain.
Andrea Takashima, 26, who works at The Dark Side on Waimanu Street, wears rings on all her fingers and both thumbs.
"Gosh, I've been wearing thumb rings for so long I can't even remember when I started," she says. "It's definitely different, but there's no secret meaning that I know about."
Takashima hasn't seen any increase in thumb ring customers at The Dark Side compared to the number of people buying toe rings.
Wearing thumb rings can cause some inconvenience.
"Usually when I write I have to take it off of my right thumb because it's too hard to write legibly," Takashima said. "But that's the only time I really take it off 'cuz it's sorta hard to do."
A Hawaiian Heirloom Jewelers' employee who's also shy about her identity has been wearing a silver thumb ring for six months.
"It's different, but I'm really in the minority in doing it," she said. "Customers rarely ask for it; they think it's odd. It's mostly young girls who wear them."
Like 19-year-old Denise Sato who also volunteers that she has several body piercings not visible with "my clothes on."
"Thumb rings are cool, but I like jewelry everywhere," says Sato, who sports a black band with a large red stone on her left thumb. "A lot of guys see it and ask me what it means because they think it's some sort of sex thing. They wish, yeah."
Older women also thumb around. Maureen McNamara, the Honolulu Symphony's director of marketing, has been wearing a silver Tiffany ring given to her by a friend "off and on" for about nine months.
She does it "purely because I like it there -- because I am not a trendsetter; it's pure vanity."
"I just like things to be a little different," said McNamara, who also wears three rings on the traditional ring finger of her left hand.
She agrees that thumb rings do have an exotic look and "probably" are worn by those with a "liberal" bent, but doesn't believe there's any secret meaning attached.
"OK," she jokes, "it keeps me from sucking my thumb."
Accessor-eyes
