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Something to add to the list of things to never do while on your way to your prom
By adamg on Sun, 05/29/2016 - 5:53pm
The Swellesley Report has a copy of the X-ray to prove why you should never try pinning your prom date's boutonniere on while you're on the bus to the prom.
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Comments
Is it "prom" or "the prom"?
Interesting how language has changed. When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, it was always referred to as "the prom". Somewhere around the mid 90s or later it changed to just "prom". Saying "I'm going to prom" sounds to me like "I'm going to supermarket", "I'm going to mall" or "I'm going to dry cleaners".
After The Work I Go To The Home, And Later I Go To The Sleep
Adorable!
n/t
It's veddy British
Britons being people who go to university or hospital.
But can we talk about West Coasters who put "the" before numbered highway routes?
There's a difference
The Brits use "hospital" as a state of being, rather than a specific geographic location. When one is very ill, one is usually in hospital. The specific hospital--MGH, Beth Israel, whatever, isn't the point.
Think of it like the way Americans use "prison." One wouldn't say "One-Term Mahty is going to the prison," or "One-Term Mahty is going to MCI - Shirley," one would say "One-Term Mahty is going to prison."
What about
"I'm going to Whole Foods" vs "I'm going to the Whole Foods"?
Either one sounds right to me. Though I guess I do hear the "the" less often from my age cohort, and have since college in the mid 2000s, I guess.
Then again, "I'm going to watch the TV" sounds to me like the thing doesn't even have to be turned on...you could be looking at it from the back, so long as you're actually looking at it...to make sure it doesn't try to do anything funny (gotta be careful with them TV's...they're sneaky critters).
The Club
I've always wondered why people say "I'm going to the club. See you at the club. Last week at the club" Which club?
the club
oh, dahling, if you don't know which club, then you're clearly not a member and don't deserve to be.
I think because "club" can be used as a verb.
I'm going "clubbing", where you wouldn't be going "promming", or "prisoning".
Also, the prom, like prison or the hospital, is a place and an experience.
If you were going to take a tour of a prison, or even if you work there, you wouldn't say "I'm going to prison".
or as Roman said above...
"since college" not "since THE college". Place + experience.
I blame
The demise of Home Economics!
That was The Big Lecture in home etc when I was in middle school. Do not put pins in your mouth, because this one girl swallowed one in the 70s and had to be hhospitalized and eat tons of bananas and laxatives until it came out.
Needless to say I've never put a pin in my mouth, but have often thought of Mrs. T telling that story, while pinning stuff
The sudden change
A prom is basically a dance. If someone says "I'm going to dance", it sounds like they are about to break out into a dance routine right then and there, or that they are going to a dance with the intention of dancing. Likewise "I'm going to prom" sounds like they are about to promenade. You might well dance at the dance, and you might promenade at the prom, but it's definitely "the prom". Maybe it's a regional thing and other parts of the country have always said "going to prom", but here in Boston I always recall it as "the prom". Suddenly it changed a number of years ago. That's the curious part. The sudden change.
Let's blame social media
Why not?
Seriously though. I'd wager that all the prom-posals on social media (from other parts of the country) had something to due with the linguistic change in this area.
I like to think of
prom, as a verb, as some sort of horrible, yet unspecified, biological function:
"Better roll down the window, Dude; I'm going to prom."
Origins of "Prom"
The term "Promenade" was shortened to "Prom".
Which means that both "going to Prom" and "going to the Prom" would make sense (the former being to prance around with your dandy/lady and the latter referring to a place where one would do such strolling about).
To "promenade" (with the long "a" rhyming with "lemonade") is also a square dance move. As in "Then you all promenade with the sweet corner maid ..." Don't they make you square dance in gym around here?
No dancing here period
Puritan Boston and all. I went to a Latin school with all lapsed nuns as teachers but I highly doubt there was dancing in other schools. None in my earlier years.
What could it lead to!?!
I think everyone discussing this aspect understands the etymology.
The curious thing is up until recently, in the Boston area at least, people used the phrase "the prom."
You might promenade when you got there ( a term surely list on the kids attending) but "the prom committee" organized it and you gave or accepted an invitation to same. "Prom" without the article was not heard.
Now it's used by the kids.