Ring Knocker

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>The US military academies have class rings. These are big gaudy things,
>pretty obvious evidence of their bonafides. Graduates wear their rings with
>pride.

Often with excessive or unjustified pride, it seems ... according to those
who lack such rings (non-commissioned personnel or those who have become
commissioned via other routes).

I suppose a "ring knocker" is etymologically one who knocks with his ring
(i.e., who shows it off by knocking with it on a door perhaps, or on a
table to call a meeting to order), i.e., implicitly one who is
[excessively] proud of his academic background.

Are there other (non-military) fields in which a class ring or university
ring is very common or conventional?

-- Doug Wilson