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How common is the black ring?


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Disney_cakepop_ace

I may have spotted ace rings in the wild twice: once on Facebook and once at my job.

Facebook: an acquaintance updated his profile picture and seemed to have an ace ring but I felt weird messaging him to ask whether or not it was one so I left the mystery whole 🕵️‍♂️ (The ring fit with his style and he doesn't appear to have it anymore, so…)

 

Job: I was giving information, and one of the people I was talking to had their hand on the counter and they had a black ring on their right middle finger!! I was very excited to see a potential ace ring but I didn't say anything because I had to remain professional but I like to believe that it was an ace ring 😊

 

I used to have one but I took it off because I didn't want to have to come out to people (especially those I know, who know that black rings aren't usually my style) 😅

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I found you can quite easily brush it off with 'its just a ring' if you don't want to explain it, otherwise it can give you a reason to talk about it if you feel comfortable

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a_subtle_reality

Well, there's now one more "in the wild" :) - got one with a thin green band, to add a little extra meaning...

  61eACRtmiCL._AC_UY100_.jpg

 

On 5/12/2019 at 9:12 PM, œddy said:

I found you can quite easily brush it off with 'its just a ring' if you don't want to explain it, otherwise it can give you a reason to talk about it if you feel comfortable


I've seen a few mentions of people saying "yeah, it's pretty ace"/ "that's pretty ace" as a way to hint to someone who might or might not also be ace, without having to go into long explanations with someone who isn't. Another way might be to say "I like the ACE-thetic", but I don't know if that would leave the questioner more confused...

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chairdesklamp

@a_subtle_reality "ACEthetic," nice. My favourite boss ever and I used to have pun contests with each other. (He always outpunned me)

 

What's the extra meaning added by green?

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a_subtle_reality
2 hours ago, chairdesklamp said:

What's the extra meaning added by green?

I was going for ace + aro. It's not a convention at all (regarding rings, the AVEN wiki just says "predominantly black", most examples seem to be plain black, though obviously there's variations). But it made sense to me at least, seeing as all the variants of the aro flag use green to represent 'aromantic'.

Plus on a weirdly personal note, back in primary school (in the early 90s...) I used to print my name on school books in green felt-tip pen and then do thick black outlines, so yeah - a funny coincidence I found amusing.

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chairdesklamp

Oh, okay! I didn't know the romantic orientations had their own separate flags!

 

Okay, that is kinda awesome :)

 

EDIT: Okay, just for aro. Would really love something that distinguished other romantic orientations from their sexual counterparts...

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Celyn: The Lutening
4 hours ago, chairdesklamp said:

Would really love something that distinguished other romantic orientations from their sexual counterparts

I've seen a love heart of the romantic orientation on top of the ace or demi flag e.g. mine is a pan heart on top of a demi flag.

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Dreamsexual

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a_subtle_reality
18 hours ago, chairdesklamp said:

Would really love something that distinguished other romantic orientations from their sexual counterparts...

 

14 hours ago, Celyn said:

I've seen a love heart of the romantic orientation on top of the ace or demi flag e.g. mine is a pan heart on top of a demi flag.

 

I've seen references to variations of that for ace rings, e.g. rings with ace cards / symbols (though that could also signify you're a gambling enthusiast), or a black ring with a stone or stones of various colors...

 

When I was looking at the options for the one I got, I saw there's a few stripe colours to choose from - I was actually thinking they could cover a few other bases with commonly recognised colours, e.g. red for romantic, grey for... some sort of grey (not clear which), purple (as it's on the ace flag) if you don't want an extra meaning but like a hint of color to lighten the look (they also had blue or white stripes, and other brands had gold, silver and a couple of others, not sure if there are obvious meanings to those, though a white ring has also been mentioned for aro, so black w. white could also fit there). One can go too far with coloured stripes, though: for instance, red-green-blue-red-gap-brown would mean you're a 26.7 kOhm resistor with a 1% tolerance.

 

These are just my random musings of course, but it all falls under the "predominantly black" definition.

 

I also saw there's a few companies just on Amazon that do black rings with different coloured stripes (mine was from Jude Jewellers, who happen to go up to size 16, which is what I needed). One of the other nice things about using a coloured stripe as a modifier is that you can get silicone rings with a stripe too, if a metal ring is uncomfortable / hazardous for you.

Edited by a_subtle_reality
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chairdesklamp
1 hour ago, a_subtle_reality said:

 

 

I've seen references to variations of that for ace rings, e.g. rings with ace cards / symbols (though that could also signify you're a gambling enthusiast), or a black ring with a stone or stones of various colors...

 

When I was looking at the options for the one I got, I saw there's a few stripe colours to choose from - I was actually thinking they could cover a few other bases with commonly recognised colours, e.g. red for romantic, grey for... some sort of grey (not clear which), purple (as it's on the ace flag) if you don't want an extra meaning but like a hint of color to lighten the look (they also had blue or white stripes, and other brands had gold, silver and a couple of others, not sure if there are obvious meanings to those, though a white ring has also been mentioned for aro, so black w. white could also fit there). One can go too far with coloured stripes, though: for instance, red-green-blue-red-gap-brown would mean you're a 26.7 kOhm resistor with a 1% tolerance.

 

These are just my random musings of course, but it all falls under the "predominantly black" definition.

 

I also saw there's a few companies just on Amazon that do black rings with different coloured stripes (mine was from Jude Jewellers, who happen to go up to size 16, which is what I needed). One of the other nice things about using a coloured stripe as a modifier is that you can get silicone rings with a stripe too, if a metal ring is uncomfortable / hazardous for you.

26.7k Ohm resistor... so I just came back from a shopping trip where I stopped to pick up screwdrivers, a soldering iron, and solder to fix the headphone jack of my Sony tape Walkman (because all my tools are in storage) I laughed so loud, the neighbours may think I'm a comic book villain now...

 

I might look into some sort of pride flag stripe for homoromanticism. 

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wirewalker
5 hours ago, a_subtle_reality said:

One can go too far with coloured stripes, though: for instance, red-green-blue-red-gap-brown would mean you're a 26.7 kOhm resistor with a 1% tolerance.

I saw this and laughed out loud. Well done.

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Dreamsexual
On ‎5‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 6:10 AM, wirewalker said:

I saw this and laughed out loud. Well done

.

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On 5/7/2019 at 10:55 PM, Chamomile_Serenity said:

I'm also near a large diverse city, and haven't seen anyone with a black ring, but then again I don't have one either. I have also met another ace in-person ...they also didn't have a ring!  I honestly thought only the teens in this community were wearing them so I didn't think much about it before now. Perhaps I'll get one just in case, so if I do come across someone they'll know we're out here and not just internet phantoms. 

I say go for it! :) Something like this may lead to a trend that people decide, "hey maybe I should get one as well." There could be a lot on the fence.

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On 5/8/2019 at 3:13 AM, Bio 7 said:

I got mine last year, after I was 19 and I’ll be continuing to wear it. It feels good to have it now. Kind of pointless post actually I’m not sure what my point is.

Good to me! :) It is good to let us know that you have decided on wearing a ring and continue to do so!

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On 5/14/2019 at 1:17 AM, chairdesklamp said:

Oh, okay! I didn't know the romantic orientations had their own separate flags!

 

Okay, that is kinda awesome :)

Definitely learning everyday! :) 

 

Agreed on being awesome!

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44 minutes ago, PittAce92 said:

Good to me! :) It is good to let us know that you have decided on wearing a ring and continue to do so!

I have to wear it when I leave my flat now or my finger feels wrong. Also I like the look of it.

 

I still hope I’ll come across someone that knows what it means.

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auctumnitas

I found out about ace rings back in... February? and even though it seemed like it's not a universal symbol it really resonated with me, so I got myself one. I have three pieces of jewelry that I wear every day and mean a lot to me, and I consider my ace ring one of them.

 

I know it's supposed to go on the right hand, but because it's hard to fit rings to that finger (& I have a class ring) I wear it on my left.... anyone else wear their ring on a different finger?

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Dreamsexual
On ‎5‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 3:43 AM, auctumnitas said:

I wear it on my left.... anyone else wear their ring on a different finger?

 

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Dreamsexual

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auctumnitas
1 hour ago, Dreamsexual said:

Isn't there a potential confusion issue with that, and another sexual group?

considering I wear it not in hopes of being identified as ace but rather as a reminder to myself that I'm not the only one, l don't find that concerning. 

 

I think wearing a white ring on the left middle finger is somewhat of an aro symbol? so no complaints from me

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Dreamsexual

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auctumnitas
3 hours ago, Dreamsexual said:

  I was thinking of confusion with the swinger community

isn't that just for the right hand, though?

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Dreamsexual
On ‎5‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 4:03 PM, auctumnitas said:

isn't that just for the right hand, though?

I.

 

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21 hours ago, Dreamsexual said:

I dunno ... I thought it was every finger except one, but I admit to not knowing a lot about swinging :). You're probably right.

 

I think it is every other finger, or I heard that at least.

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I didn’t know there were different colors for different orientations within the ace community! Which color would be heteroromantic? To Amazon! 

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a_subtle_reality
On 5/18/2019 at 8:59 PM, Mrs said:

I didn’t know there were different colors for different orientations within the ace community! Which color would be heteroromantic? To Amazon! 

To be clear, it's not an actual convention to "add to" the black rings, just something I was speculating on / asking about (on a different thread)  / doing for myself :P ... and I'm new here, so don't take me as any sort of authority on the subject.

 

However, the description of the rings says "predominantly black" rather than "entirely black", people do use personal variations, and there are certainly colours associated with some orientations (either traditionally, or those used for particular pride flag stripes). My reasoning was that a black middle finger ring with a bit of something else (colour or symbol) is still predominantly black, so it still means "ace" as a starting point, plus whatever you choose to add to it.

 

I'd say the two colours with the clearest association would be red for romantic and green for aromantic... grey for grey-romantic might work but might be ambiguous with grey-ace (I've seen maybe a couple of mentions of having a grey ring for grey-ace though, which would make more sense). Purple is the AVEN colour and on the ACE pride flag (symbolizing "community"), so it kind of fits if you don't like completely black, but I don't think it would naturally have additional meanings in this context, though it does appear on a couple of pride flags, with various meanings. Trying to work specific orientation into it as well might get overly complex, I think if you tried that, it would fall under "conversation starter" rather than something to be easily recognized.

Edited by a_subtle_reality
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On 5/14/2019 at 7:15 PM, a_subtle_reality said:

who happen to go up to size 16, which is what I needed

We are at near-opposite ends of the finger spectrum!  My right middle finger, which is my largest finger, is size 5.😆

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Celyn: The Lutening

My wider hematite ring broke so I'm back to my old, thin ceramic one. If anyone wants to get me a birthday present...

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On 5/15/2019 at 10:33 PM, Bio 7 said:

I have to wear it when I leave my flat now or my finger feels wrong. Also I like the look of it.

 

I still hope I’ll come across someone that knows what it means.

That is a great feeling to have regarding wearing around as it should feel like an appendage! ;) :) 

 

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