Engagement rings are the equivalent of a woman selling her vagina and uterus for $

If the woman broke the engagement, then he gets the ring back.

Why didn't my father tell me about the dowry? Now Im embarrassed, I don't know if mr gbag received a dowry but if he didn't, what do I owe him?

Sorry, it's too late - unless your father is feeling very generous.

Dad's not feeling a lot of things these days, unless he's shaking his head in disbelief that I actually get involved in topics like this. He would have been a formidable poster.

Engagement rings were invented to sell diamonds in the 1930's .

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/how-an-ad-campaign-invented-the-diamond-engagement-ring/385376/

That's the truly wonderful part about the Great Depression, jewelers introduced diamonds into the mainstream. They sold like hot cakes, that is if you could afford to eat on a regular basis.

Not to make little of it, but those were interesting times . People would save up all their money to go see a movie with laughing and dancing and they wouldnt have enough left for a meal, so the picture theatre owners would subsidise popcorn and drinks so they wouldn't go hungry . Its the other way around now, with popcorn so expensive they use it to subsidise the movie .