Prom time . . . .

[FRITZ JUENGLING]

I think I'll weigh in on this one.  I have kids who have been doing the prom thing for several years now.  Prom is no longer (at least here in Salem, Oregon) a specific event.  Long gone are the days when you and your date MAYBE went to dinner and then to the big dance.  It's a day-long series of events.  The question "Who are you going to prom with?" no longer has any meaning.  All the kids form groups, so the question is now "Who's in your group?"  My son's group had 24, yes, 24 people in it. All the boys got together several weeks before the 'event' and planned what they were going to do. It was like watching a Senate debate. They started out with a trip to the Oregon Garden, had a picnic, went sightseeing in an old town, had a mass dinner, and then there's the pictures.  My goodness.  What ever happened to mom snapping a few shots with the family Kodak?  Oh no, you have to get every possible combination.  Each boy with his date, all the boys together, all the girls toget!
 her, all the boys on one side with all the girls on the other side.  And on and on and on.  It's enough to make a sane man go mad.  Then they somehow make it to the dance.  Many kids then do after-dance activities (I won't even mention some of them), like the pancake breakfast.  This could literally go on for nearly 24 hours. That's what 'prom' is now, at least here.
Fritz J

>>> cdoyle at UGA.EDU 5/2/2006 10:14 AM >>>
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).

Larry, that sentence-initial, sans-negative "anymore" sounds
REALLY odd to me!

--Charlie



>"Homecoming" works this way too--wonder if that's the
sponsor for the shift in "prom".  Anymore, homecoming is
sort of a partial-dress rehearsal for prom in the high
schools.
>
>Larry

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