"Prom" or "the prom"?

[MorningGlow]

Poll question: "Prom" or "the prom"?

I was at the mall the other day and witnessed a frenzy of tux-renting and dress-buying for prom season, so that got me thinking: In your neck of the woods, when you refer to the big 'do, do you say "prom" without the article (as in "I'm going to prom") or with the article ("I'm going to the prom")?

I'd also love to find out what the geographical delineations are for the differences, but there aren't enough poll options, so I guess that's going to have to be put in individual posts if you have the time.

I was born and raised in western NY, and we say "the prom" 'round these parts. Your turn! :hi:

[HopeHoops]

1. That's kind of an "across the pond" issue.

In the UK, they say they are "going to hospital", and here we say "going to the hospital".

And then there is western PA where they leave out the infinitive - "the clothes need washed". That makes me nuts.

[MorningGlow]

4. True, I am well acquainted with the first one. That second one is nuts!

With apologies to western PAers!

I think the worst local one is "drive truck" as a career. "What do you do?" "I drive truck." Oh, that and "couple t'ree", as in "We're goin' down ta da bar an' have a couple t'ree beers."

[pokerfan]

12. like math vs maths

I seem to be seeing maths a lot more recently for some reason. The UK must have got the internet.

[Critters2]

24. Yikes! I've never seen "maths" in this country.

I'm still irritated by "Good on ya".

[trof]

2. See also:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8660994

[MorningGlow]

3. It's a colloquialism kinda day!

:hi:

[tigereye]

5. I think it's an age differential

we older folk called it "the prom" I don't ever remember anyone referring to it as "prom" back when.

[Bunny]

7. Yeah, we called it 'the prom' too.

But my daughter calls it 'prom'. I think it's an age thing, as you said.

How are ya, hon? :hi:

[tigereye]

10. not too bad - nice weather lately, eh? I can't believe it's April already.

We were talking about all the end of year school events at the PTO today. I feel like time just races by...


Is your daughter old enough for the prom yet? :hi:

[Bunny]

18. Yeah, she's a junior and she's going to the prom this year.

Luckily for me, she borrowed a beautiful gown from her cousin, saving me a HUGE amount of money! :)

[tigereye]

23. yeah, it's amazing how much all that stuff seems to cost now - the gown,

the tuxes, the limos, the motel rooms, etc. :rofl: My mom made two of em for me, and they looked pretty good. ( I suspect that if I were a teen now I would probably be horrified by that kind of thing.) :D


Doesn't it blow you away that she's that age? I hope she has a great time! :hi: :hug:

[bigwillq]

6. The Prom (nt)

[Iggo]

8. Born and raised in SoCal, and it's "the prom" here, too. (n/t)

[BarenakedLady]

9. The Prom in Rhode Island.

:hi:

[graywarrior]

11. "The" as in The GE as opposed to GE.

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. When the Colonel says, in the 'The Funniest Joke in the World' bit (episode 1),

"All through the winter of '43 we had translators working, in joke-proof conditions, to try and produce a German version of the joke. They worked on one word each for greater safety. One of them saw two words of the joke and spent several weeks in hospital."

...he's referring to the state of being under care in a hospital — an unspecified one. Had the Colonel known which hospital the unfortunate translator had gone to, he might've said, "...and spent several weeks in Carbuncle-on-Buttock Hospital," but it isn't necessary in conveying the point that the translator was hospitalized.

Likewise, when some silly, trend-following teen says, "I'm going to prom," I want to ask, "Which one?" There's a reason "the" is called "the definite article."

If "prom" were a proper noun, it'd be different. (I've been seeing a lot of that lately, too — generic nouns such as "high school" capitalized as if they were proper nouns. Must be part of that "evolution" of language.)



Signed,

Der Grammar Überhauptsturmbannführer

:)

[Iggo]

14. I think they should arrest people who stand in water.

Just saying...

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. WHOA!

I've forgotten what I said now.

[MorningGlow]

20. Good point

I used to think the British always said "in hospital", but the more I read, I realized that "THE hospital" is also used, in the manner that you pointed out.

Damn, now I want to go watch that MP episode...

And dude, do NOT get me started on some folks' habit of Random Capitalization for what the Writer thinks is an Important Word. I thought we squashed that after the Victorian era ended, but it rears its ugly head again...

[DarkTirade]

16. I say 'prom' because I went to two... mine and my ex's.

:P

[MorningGlow]

21. Woah. Is "prom" plural? a collective noun?

[DarkTirade]

26. No, I just mean that it wasn't 'the' prom, because I had two of them.

So it's 'this prom' and 'that prom'. :P Or rather 'my prom' and 'her prom'.

[RoyGBiv]

17. Morp ...

We didn't have prom, nor a prom, nor the prom. We had a morp.

We had a junior/senior banquet where we all piled into the gym and ate bad food, then ran to our cars and, as a group, shuttled ourselves over to the college where we had rented one of their banquet halls for the whole Footloose reenactment.

No dancing was allowed at any school-sanctioned function or any function that was advertised at school.

But, for some weird reason, the powers-that-be allowed notices of Morp and an Ecnad here and there held off campus.

[Heidi]

19. We had our prom in a nearby town, because our little town had a no-dancing ordinance.

No joke.

[MorningGlow]

22. No way!

Footloose was real? Does that make you Kevin Bacon? :P

[Critters2]

25. No "the" in either Illinois or Iowa. nt

[Tommy_Carcetti]

27. Proom? What's a proom?

Oh, I see....a proom.