Love of my WHAT???

[RaymondW]

Did you see the movie License to Wed with Robin Williams? In it, the groom goes to the jeweler to pick up the rings a couple of days before the wedding and finds that instead of "Never to Part", the jeweler has engraved "Never to Fart" on the rings. Pretty funny, eh? Keep that in mind as you read this.

So I found this great diamond and picked out this great Gelin and Abaci ring. To really make it special, I researched Irish phrases and eventually settled on "Love of my Heart" which, in Irish, is "Gra mo Croi". But it needed special accents and a dot over the letter C. My new-found friends on www.irishgaelictranslator.com helped me out and with the Irish font Fiorchlo installed, it looked like this in Word:

http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/d910cJjp9wYWa8oyYf3wy5BQP4wBnXnE3Spdv4xQp5Fd3Ig=_l.jpg

Yeah, I was pretty proud of myself. Gelin Abaci requires that they do all engraving on their rings, but they can engrave anything if I send them exactly what I want. So, I sent the Word file off to the jeweler who forwarded it and the diamond to GA and today, I got an email that the ring was on its way back to me, 6 days ahead of schedule. Woo hoo! And the jeweler sent along some pics of the little beauty:

http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/d910cJjp9wYWa8oyYf3wy5BQP54qauSEL2M3v4xQp5Fd3Ig=_l.jpg
http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/d910cJjp9wYWa8oyYf3wy5BQP5uYiSZhzr3jv4xQp5Fd3Ig=_l.jpg

Why, you can even see the engraving on the second one. Gra mo froi??? OMG. After only a few minutes, it occurred to me that I''d used a special font which, surely, Gelin Abaci did not have, so Word substituted something like Times New Roman which makes my phrase look like:

http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/d910cJjp9wYWa8oyYf3wy5BQP1aEQDMjD79*v4xQp5Fd3Ig=_l.jpg

The planned engagement date is April 10, our anniversary (never mind how many years, we move slowly around here . This is my fault, so I have no expectation that GA is going to drop everything to remake this ring and God knows at what cost. I don''t know if there''s a way for them to just remove the engraving or if they have to remake the entire ring.

Note to self: If you ever want something engraved a certain way, SEND A PICTURE!!!

Now, I''m off to www.irishgaelictranslator.com with a sincere hope that froi doesn''t mean something like ingrown toenail in Irish.

 

[LegacyGirl]

Oh no!! I hope they can fix it. It''s the thought that counts at least... you had good intentions

 

[nclrgirl]

oh no! i''m so sorry to hear that. i hope they can fix it!

 

[Dreamer_D]

I'm sure they can fix it! Add a little metal, a little polish, and re-engrave... fingers crossed!

If not, if I were your FI, I would almost love the misspelled word more because of the awesome story!! No one would see it unless she told them, and it is super hilarious.

ETA: I'm sorry if you are upset, I just wanted you to know that it is also a great story...

DD

 

[Muss]

Dude, that is a serious bummer, but one that I think you can get fixed.

On the plus side, I have been looking for a similar type of thing to on my girl''s engagement ring so thank you for the website.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I am sure they can fix it. Glad you caught the error, though!

 

[~*kalypso*~]

HaHa. I"m sorry to laugh if you are upset and I totally take it back and apologize.

Oh goodness, if you're upset about it I'd ask them to remove it ASAP if possible with the time constraints.

If you're not, and don't mind laughing at it a bit with your girlfriend I'd keep it.

I personally love that story, its fantastic and very sweet.

If it helps, I just tried to google froi, you might be in LUCK!! I THINK in Yiddish it means 'Woman' or 'Mrs.' You should check. http://www.translationdirectory.com/dictionaries/dictionary004_f.htm

So your ring has 2 different languages in it that together say something like "Love Of My Woman" or " Love of My Mrs." maybe. So that seems a lot better than "Love of my ingrown toenail"

... In all seriousness, that's a pain.. I hope you can get it fixed, I wouldnt think it would be that difficult for them to do that.

 

[sera]

At least it''s not a tattoo! Should be fixed easy enough, but what a pain.

 

[RaymondW]

Date: 4/2/2008 8:48:20 PM
Author: sera
At least it''s not a tattoo! Should be fixed easy enough, but what a pain.

LOL. You''re right about that. I''m going to see what can be done. Maybe I can arrange to send the ring directly back to Gelin Abaci (they''d get it Friday). Then they''d have a couple of days to fix it if it can be fixed. I''m just glad it got finished a week ahead of schedule or I''d have no option but to postpone the engagement.

It turns out that froi has no meaning in Irish. But I like the Yiddish. Makes me wish I''d have gone for one of those cheap EGL Israel stones.

 

[nclrgirl]

Can you let us know when you find out what it DOES mean? I''m dying to know!

 

[lesco]

Hi,

I agree with others... This is indeed a memorable story and if I was the one receiving the ring I would love to hear this.
I tried to help you out and called one of my friends, who is pretty fluid in Gaelic (Irish) and according to him froi has no meaning that he knows of.
I am sorry I did not work out the way you intended it to be but hey, you tried.
My 50 cents is that you give your lucky lady the ring as is ,since you are so close to your anniversary and proposal. You can pursue the re-engraving or deletion thereof after...

 

[RaymondW]

I''m waiting to hear back from my jeweler about what options I have. If it can''t be sent back and forth and fixed by next Thursday, I''ll go with what I have and we can decide together if it should be redone.

 

[RaymondW]

Date: 4/2/2008 8:46:32 PM
Author: ~*kalypso*~
HaHa. I''m sorry to laugh if you are upset and I totally take it back and apologize.

No need to apologize. After my initial shock (and a couple glasses of Merlot), I''m smiling about it myself. At least there''s a story to go with it.

 

[MikeRato1]

oh man that is crazy, i feel for ya
on the upside you have a great story, and an even greater ring, that thing is awesome looking! i just bought a tension myself

 

[heather318]

I too have to apologize because I got a good laugh after reading your story.. However, I do feel extremely bummed for you! I told my FI to check and recheck and have someone else check the spelling of the engraving on my ring because I was afraid he was going to type it wrong.. Hopefully he didn't since I haven't seen it yet..

 

[Fly Girl]

I''ve had wrong engraving done before...and they simply add a bit of metal, smooth it out and redo it. Soon it will be all fixed.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Oh bummer, I am sorry! But it does make for a cute story. I hope that they can get it fixed soon. Pretty ring, by the way!

 

[WinkHPD]

Date: 4/2/2008 10:04:30 PM
Author: RaymondW

Date: 4/2/2008 8:46:32 PM

Author: ~*kalypso*~

HaHa. I''m sorry to laugh if you are upset and I totally take it back and apologize.

No need to apologize. After my initial shock (and a couple glasses of Merlot), I''m smiling about it myself. At least there''s a story to go with it.

LOL! By the second generation some poor appraiser will be trying to decipher the engraving and the great grandkids will be wondering what the heck the old geezer was up to...

Wink

 

[pixley]

On the bright side, at least it doesn''t translate to "love of my fart".

Seriously though, I''m sure they''ll make it right for you and it''ll just become a lovely, hysterical story that you and your sweetie can laugh about for years to come.

 

[Gypsy]

I''m sorry. I''m laughing my tail off here.

I''m glad it means something nice in Yiddish. And that it doesn''t mean anything aweful in Irish. Best of luck on finding a solution.

 

[hairgirl95]

Oh bless you--this is one of those stories that you will tell your great grandkids! I think it is so sweet what you were trying to engrave, and all the effort and time spent researching it--all for FROI!! It is one of those situations where all you can do is just throw your hands up and laugh about it. Its correctable, you could re-engrave, but ya know what? I kinda like this little "flaw". It is totally unique, and something you and your sweetie can share together. She will always be your little froi!!

 

[FrekeChild]

I like it too!

 

[Splinter]

I like the story too and would be tempted to keep the engraving as it is. But really it should be no problem to change, just the time constraints are an issue. Of course, as has been said, you can always get it changed later. Good luck!

 

[RaymondW]

Date: 4/2/2008 8:39:54 PM
Author: Muss
Dude, that is a serious bummer, but one that I think you can get fixed.

On the plus side, I have been looking for a similar type of thing to on my girl''s engagement ring so thank you for the website.

Hi. I didn''t mean to ignore your post. If you go with an Irish saying, avoid anamcara that many seem to think means soulmate. You may see it on a lot of bracelets and such but it''s grammatically incorrect as is and it''s not a real word in Irish. It''s a combination of two words anam and cara that could be taken to mean "friend of the soul" which refers to a confessor. Then there''s which font to use. I was sternly corrected when I planned to use one of the fonts you often see associated with Irish text today. But some of the real Irish fonts use odd-looking characters. The letter G looks to me more like an S. Fiorchlo is evidently an acceptable medium between old and modern Irish fonts.

Most engravers have a fixed set of fonts so you may end up with an Irish phrase done in script or block letters but that won''t have the appropriate accents and dotted characters that make the words accurate. A dot over the letter c, for example, can replace "ch" at the start of a word. In my case, gra mo croi is equivelent to gra mo chroi if a dot is placed over the C in the first version. And they say English is a difficult language.

And by all means, send a picture to the engraver!