[Ads-l] prom; lodge

[Emily Gordon]

See seminal Gen X text *Pretty in Pink* (1986): "What about prom, Blaine?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l7LGK2hnQw

On Sat, Jun 22, 2024 at 6:18 PM Stanton McCandlish <smccandlish at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thinking back to my own high-school experience (mid-1980s), it seems to me
> that "prom" without "the" referred to the social process, if you will,
> including all the ritual leading up to it: "Have you asked anyone to prom
> yet?", and is clearly derived from adjectival use ("I still need to pick
> out a prom dress")l; meanwhile, "the prom" referred to the dance-party
> event itself ("We made out in the car on the way to the prom"). But I might
> be overthinking it; maybe it was simply in the losing-its-"the" stage in
> that time span, without actually much rhyme or reason to when "the" was
> present. And it's certainly not as clear-cut a distinction as, say, "I like
> to party" versus "I'm going to be late to the party".
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 22, 2024 at 4:59 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > I can imagine “We can’t skip Pride”.
> >
> > As in
> >
> > “We had already postponed it once, and we definitely want to do
> something,
> > because in our mind you just can't skip Pride for a year,…”
> >
> > "I know I know. I still haven't finished the Valentine's Day one BUT! The
> > window is closing to make the pride event and I can't skip pride”
> >
> > (A recurring event)
> >
> > Not that different from “can’t skip commencement/graduation/homecoming…”
> >
> > But yes, it was “the prom” for me, back in another millennium.
> >
> > LH
> >
> > > On Jun 22, 2024, at 4:49 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > In my day, when the earth's crust had recently cooled, we teens spoke
> of
> > > going to "the prom."  Years later, I heard a new crop of teens talk
> about
> > > going to "prom," suddenly a mass noun.
> > >
> > > In the July, 1960, issue of _Walt Disney's Comics and Stories_, one of
> > > Donald Duck's nephews says "But tonight's Lodge Night at the Junior
> > > Woodchucks!" And the next one says "We can't skip lodge!"
> > >
> > > Another mass noun that even now strikes me as odd. (I'd say "We can't
> > skip
> > > Lodge Night!")   Both "prom" and "lodge" designate familiar, recurring
> > > events.  Are there other exx. of this grammatical quirk?
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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>

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