Originally Posted by MSD

The idea that an engagement ring should cost two months' salary is the single most successful viral marketing campaign in history. It played on our natural greed and lust for material possessions for years, and managed to work its way into our culture so successfully that most of us accept it as a fact of life.

I would fall head-over-heels for a woman who challenged our cultural perceptions by proving that the diamond in a piece of jewelry would burn just like any other lump of carbon.