Prom Time

Does a bunch of unsupervised teenagers sound like a good idea? That depends who you’re asking, but if you’re asking a principal, they’ll say, “Nope.” Thus, the chaperone. This is an adult who attends the prom (or another dance) to make sure nothing terrible happens, like someone spiking the punch or brawling over who has the best dance moves. This word has a fancy origin: a chaperon was originally a hat worn by noblemen, and it comes from a French word for a hood.

Promposal (a blend of prom and proposal) is a recently popular word for an old tradition: asking someone to the prom, but with a little added theatricality and hubbub. Promposal is a word blend, just like brunch (breakfast and lunch) and labradoodle (Labrador and poodle). The most famous sort of proposal is a marriage proposal, which has all sorts of traditions, some sweet and some creepy.

This type of car is defined by one trait: length. A limousine—often called a limo—is a loooooong car that’s also quite expensive and fancy-schmancy. Rich people, including CEOs, actors, musicians, and athletes, tool around town in limousines. A limo is also part of prom tradition, and friends often chip in for a limo to share on prom night. For one magical evening, high schools kids can feel like rich jerks. Excuse me, that was disrespectful: special rich jerks.

Prom is all about the clothes, including the accessories—the most famous being the corsage. This is a little arrangement of flowers about the size of your fist, and traditionally a fella pins a corsage to his gal. A corsage is a bouquet’s Mini-Me.

Like most words, this one has a few meanings, not all of which have anything to do with prom. A stag is a male deer, who is unlikely to receive a promposal, even in a Disney movie. But if you go stag, you show up at the prom without a date. This term, because of its male history, originally referred to dudes going it alone, but these days anyone can go stag—except actual woodland critters.

Proms feature a mix of old and new music, but it’s a good bet that all proms from the 1970s until the umpty-70s will include a little disco: a type of catchy, bass-propelled music that made bands such as ABBA and the Bee Gees rich enough to afford limousines for their whole family, even the pets. Many folks have claimed to despise disco since the moment it arrived—or to only enjoy it ironically, like a so-bad-it’s-great horror movie. But disco is tough to dislike when you’re on the dance floor.

Here’s another French word, found in English since around the turn of the twentieth century. If you took a limo to the prom, you probably hired a chauffeur: a professional driver, usually of a limousine. It would sound weird to call a cab driver a chauffeur, even though the job is similar.