The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

17 April 2006

Gyring at Gimbels

'Twas brillig, and the slender legs (and some a tad less slender) walk up the sidewalks, and the sun catches a bit of bling: the ever-popular ankle bracelet.

And it occurs to me that sometimes they're on the left, sometimes they're on the right, and once in a while somebody's wearing two of them. Unable as I am to detect any particular pattern, I'm asking: is there a protocol to wearing these things? Does one side mean this, the other side that? (Perfunctory Googlage on the matter tends to turn up pages about a different, and less decorative, sort of bracelet altogether.)

No, I'm not trying to get a fix on any one person; I seek only Pure Knowledge, the sort that induces mimsiness out in the borogoves.

Posted at 1:11 PM to Almost Yogurt , Rag Trade


Curious about this myself, I posed your question to some women at work. I didn't get any real information, but I did receive several wary looks and at least one accusation of having less than wholesome motives for asking.

You're on your own, bub.

Posted by: Joe Goodwin at 4:56 PM on 17 April 2006

I had also posed this question at work, with similar results.

Posted by: CGHill at 9:53 PM on 17 April 2006

As far as I know, no they don't have any purpose besides decorative. And I thought it was earrings were the ones that have significance. Have you tried searching for "anklet" instead of "ankle bracelet"?

Posted by: sya at 9:58 PM on 17 April 2006

I continue to pop the question, and I just got a surprisingly pragmatic response:

"Right-handers tend to wear it on the left ankle, lefties on the right."

And why is this?

"Easier to put it on."

Okay. Works for me.

Posted by: CGHill at 8:44 AM on 18 April 2006

"Right-handers tend to wear it on the left ankle, lefties on the right."

Does that mean that those who wear them on both ankles are ambidextrous?

Posted by: belhoste at 10:34 AM on 18 April 2006

That I don't know. The only times I've seen both ankles decorated, they were going for asymmetry: two bracelets on one ankle, one on the other.

Geez, it's a good thing I didn't ask about toe rings.

Posted by: CGHill at 10:53 AM on 18 April 2006

I've seen ankle bracelets worn to attract attention to a new ankle or calf tatoo - usually some variation of a barbed wire or pseudoceltic knot motif.

Posted by: Call at 3:00 PM on 21 April 2006