Given the opportunity to immortalize one's love in a pithy engraveable slogan, almost everyone seems compelled to maudlin cliche. The calligraphic curlicues of "Forever yours" or "Eternal love" are etched into the bands of millions of lovers who — if not for the paucity of imaginative romance in the whole romance industry — might find a truer and less predictable expression of their love in almost anything at all, from an imprint of a co-mingled genetic sequence to the words "Fine ass bitch." Just about anything is more romantic than the rote repetition of cliche.

On the other hand, I really like these simple engraved wedding bands by Japanese designer Sakura Koshimizu, who takes the waveform of a lover's romantic whisper and fires it out of laser to be etched in gold, silver or steel. What the waveform actually says can be anything — an honest expression of fondness or the usual puked-up romantic pablum — but it captures more than just words: it freezes the tone of those early infatuated 'I love yous' to be traced and compared for years afterwards, even after you forget what the words sounded like full of meaning.

Yeah, I'm a big, cynical softie.

Yes, I Do Soundwave Ring [Random Good Stuff]