Promises. Promises. Promises. In the end, they're only words. And what's the value of words, anyway? They won't pay your student loans, they won't buy you dinner and they sure as heck won't put those fall preview Jimmy Choo over-the-knee stiletto boots on your feet. So what will? Well, besides from the obvious, i.e. a job,  if someone promises you the moon and the stars, you get that in writing--fast!

George Soros' ex-girlfriend of five years has learned this the hard way; and I'm not talking about romancing and bedding the 80-year old, overly-ripe prune. Somehow the 28-year-old Adriana Ferreyr has decided that she is entitled to $50 million dollars, because Soros broke his "promise" to her to buy her a million-dollar-plus flat. Silly, silly girl. You're jet-setting around the world with a billionaire who is not only business savvy but who is well versed in the world of written contracts and somehow you think he will just orally promise you a multi-million dollar home because you've charmed him in bed? Give me a break. There's probably lots of things that kinky Soros does orally but buying an expensive home for a lover isn't one of them. 

This whole ex-bedmate quarrel really gets me thinking: should a girl ever expect to get something that her lover promised? What is the value of promises anyway?

Some women might find their Plan B in that rock on their finger. Others, may find it in a car or a house or a Birkin--heck, whatever. These engagement presents are not all just symbols of a promise to marry--no, they are THE promise to marry. And men shouldn't be able to get away with just giving you some Cracker Jack box ring, for example. They shouldn't be able to tell you that they love you and want to marry you and then not follow up with an actual, tangible profession of that love. If you don't stand for that best thing (for example, the biggest diamond) he can afford, you're no better than Adriana Ferreyr. What are you going to do when he walks away? Sue the bastard? See how silly that looks. If you ask me, Adriana shouldn't have given that milk away for free. Fine, give him a taste, but for heaven's sakes, don't pour him an entire glass. At the very least, Soros should have had to rent that cow. 

The lesson here is simple: don't fall for heat of passion oral promises. You'll have no one but yourself to blame and you'll lose money in the process of uncovering that bitter reality.