men who wear it on the left are married. those who wear it on their right are engaged.no single, available man will wear it on his right (and have girls think he's engaged) unless there's some reason he wants to keep the single girls away from him (I have known single men who wear them bcs their girlfriends insist, and this is only bcs it's a show of "good faith" as they are saving money for the official engagement)
don't fall for this one...first time i came to egypt i innocently asked my tour guide if that had any significance bcs I read in a tour book that meant something....and he said it was "just for fashion." yeeeah, RIGHT. funny enough he was the only person is 4 yrs who ever just "wore it for fashion"
and further in the trip (when it was clear he wasn't going to get anywhere with either me or my friend) he slipped up in the conversation and revealed he had a fiance.
however, please be aware many married people in egypt - both men and women - do not wear their wedding bands. and, they usually don't match. a woman may have an elaborate wedding ring with gold/diamonds and a man may have a simple silver/white gold/platinum band (muslim men shouldn't wear yellow gold)
[This message has been edited by ExptinCAI (edited 03 February 2004).]