Prom time . . . .

[Wilson Gray]

Damn it! I didn't even notice it till I read Charlie's comment. Curse you,
Horn Baron! Stop eroding my intuitions! ;-)

-Wilson

On 5/2/06, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Prom time . . . .
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 3:14 PM -0200 5/2/06, Charles Doyle wrote:
> >Although HOMECOMING usually denotes a series of occasions
> >(parade, pep rally, football game, dance, etc.)--whereas (as
> >Arnold remarks) PROM refers to a "specific event" (thence
> >some of its oddity to superannuated ears).
>
> Not at my kids' high school, or I imagine a lot of others.
> "Homecoming" as in "attend Homecoming", "who are you going to
> Homecoming with?", etc. (with a capital, since it is a name), refers
> to a dance.  There's a homecoming game as well, but Homecoming is a
> specific event, like prom (or is that Prom?).
>
> >Larry, that sentence-initial, sans-negative "anymore" sounds
> >REALLY odd to me!
>
> Work on it, Charlie!
>
> Larry
>
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