Have you ever noticed that names can sometimes gift amazing powers? I have dear friend who named her handsome male cat “Baldur” after a Norse God, the beautiful and invincible son of Odin and Freya. Baldur the kitten was a bit of a Don Juan, romancing all the cats in the household and eventually caught in an embarrassing moment with his owner’s sheepskin rug. Even after he was fully grown, Baldur was the father of litter after litter of kittens. even when she thought she had FIXED the issue. However, the beautiful (and invincible) cat just kept working his way through the female population on her street, much to the disgruntlement of neighbors…

So, looking down at the pile of sterling silver split rings, I have to wonder who decided to call these dratted things “jump rings,” anyway? I have spent the last two hours carefully sawing apart hand wrapped sterling wire and chasing them across my jeweler’s bench and onto the floor. In this process I have bumped my head, knocked over a set of tools, and greatly amused my husband and cats with my aerobics. (It is also possible that I may have created a few new terms for “Darn…not again!” – but I’ll keep those to myself.)

Was it possible that the name “jump ring” came about because of a bench jeweler who growled “These damned things keep jumping everywhere!” Or…did an unwary soul name them jump rings and imbue them with the magical power to scoot across benches, evading jewelers for the rest of time?