# Did you go to your prom?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 9, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082 "2006-05-09T16:21:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Erika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/47e85d/32.png) [@Erika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erika)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/21 "2006-05-09T17:51:10Z")

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Didn’t go to prom… considered it, but it didn’t work out, and that was okay. I did go to post prom to hang with friends, though.

1998, South-eastern PA

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**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/22 "2006-05-09T17:53:21Z")

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Junior Prom, 1993–Not a whole lot of fun, but not awful. I suppose I’m not sorry I went, but I’m sure I would have been sorry if I’d missed it. My date was a guy a didn’t even like very much, but you weren’t allowed to go to the Junior Prom alone, at my school.

Senior Ball, 1994–Most memorable part of the evening was somebody coming back inside after checking a ballgame score to say “The cops are chasing O.J. Simpson, for some reason.” Again, not sorry I went, would have been sorry I missed it, but I don’t remember it being the funnest weekend ever, or anything.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/23 "2006-05-09T17:54:03Z")

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I didn’t go to mine in 1973. I hated our high school dances, and I had nothing resembling a girlfriend. I never felt the lack.

Pepper Mill didn’t go to her high school prom, either.

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**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/24 "2006-05-09T17:58:01Z")

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Yup. I was dating my first boyfriend, and we doubled with two friends (long high-school drama story, suffice to say that it was an exchange student from Brazil and a guy whose girlfriend went stag). He borrowed somebody’s dad’s BMW, so I didn’t have to ride in his oily, beat-up Rabbit. My mom had made my dress and I looked fabulous, if very late-80’s. We had fun, though the other guy ditched us to follow his girlfriend around (she was mad that he had found a cute date), and it was pretty much a fun, dressy hang-out night. Afterwards we went to a friend’s house and hung out some more. There were wine spritzers, I think, but I’m not a drinker.

The bizarre part is that my date/first boyfriend guy is now married to the exchange student from Brazil. They hooked up years later, I gather.

The other guy is married as well, to a girl I knew well, and that’s a long drama story too. The angry girlfriend is still single as of 3 years ago. I’m telling you, my hometown is secretly being used as the world’s source of soap-opera plots.

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**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/25 "2006-05-09T18:06:30Z")

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Western NY, 1987. I went with a friend, in a group of other couples who were all “just friends” and not dating. The whole thing was vaguely pleasant and bland. I don’t remember a lot of details (I wasn’t drinking, it was just that bland).

Even my dress was bland, now that I think about it.

Looking back, I’m glad I went. I might be wondering if I had missed out on the most exciting night of my life. At least now I know that nope, it wasn’t exciting at all.

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**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/26 "2006-05-09T18:13:00Z")

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Junior year (76), I went to my own. Senior year (77), I went to 2.

I had a girlfriend at my own school, and just a month before prom, met another girl in the next town through my friend on my Legion baseball team.

I went to my prom, and the next week, went to the one in the next town.

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**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/27 "2006-05-09T18:13:03Z")

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1983, yes I went. It was OK, but not that great. I don’t remeber a lot of details except one of my little sister’s friends tried my dress on the day before the prom and I was so mad! Then the day of the prom I got a parking ticket when I went to my BFs school to pick him up.

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**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/28 "2006-05-09T18:13:15Z")

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1. 

I went, and had an absolute blast. No curfew, dressed up, stayed out all night.  
Some context:  
I was a senior and a very shy hippie girl, who in the fall found myself dating a jock.  
We had a lot of fun together, and he wanted to go to Prom.  
Never would have gone if not for the boyfriend, but I was glad I went.

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**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/29 "2006-05-09T18:18:30Z")

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2004, didn’t go, glad I didn’t. I’m not one for dressing up, dancing, loud music, inevitable drama, or enforced pairing up (I could have gone by myself, but it would have created drama because of the way the tables were set up).

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**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/30 "2006-05-09T18:31:40Z")

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> [@dangermom](#):
>
> The other guy is married as well, to a girl I knew well, and that’s a long drama story too. The angry girlfriend is still single as of 3 years ago. I’m telling you, my hometown is secretly being used as the world’s source of soap-opera plots.

Sooo…are there many identical twins, split-personalities and a hospital with a well-equipped coma ward in your town? How about aliens landing sites, or underground caves? Do people wear eyepatches? How many people are walking around with amnesia?

😃

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**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/31 "2006-05-09T18:46:57Z")

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1980, Cleveland Ohio. I went to my senior prom. Boyfriend acted like an asshole, but all my other friends were there, so that part was fun, and we did some other fun stuff that weekend too.

I worked at a Catholic high school for girls from 1985-1988 and went to two of their proms as a chaperone and took my boyfriend as well. Those were a blast!

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**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/32 "2006-05-09T18:48:06Z")

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1990 - Junior prom  
Didn’t really plan to go as I wasn’t seeing anyone at the time but this girl I was friends with asked me. Nice girl, pretty, blond, really smart, class president, big jugs (didn’t get any though).

1991 - Senior prom  
Asked a girl I knew from my circle of people. She apparently agreed to go with some other guy but when I asked her she dropped him. I guess his prom kind of sucked. (still didn’t get any though).

I’m glad I went but I would have been content with “not traumatizing”. If I looked back and thought that dancing around to Rob Base, MC Hammer and C&C Music Factory when I was 17 was the best time in my life, I’d throw myself off the 30th floor of my office.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/33 "2006-05-09T19:08:09Z")

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1984, small town in West Virginia.

I did not go to the prom, because a few days before the prom the girl who said she was going with me called me up and said her boyfriend didn’t think it was a good idea for her to go to the prom with me. This was the first I had heard about any boyfriend. He apparently went to a different school than me, and somehow found out about me, I’m not sure what was going on really. Whatever. I ended up not having a prom date.

A bunch of us with no prom dates ended up having an anti-prom party. We drank and did stupid stuff until about 4 am, crashed for a few hours, then went out to a lake and went swimming the next day. I nearly got speared by a dart that was WAY off course from its intended dartboard, and I ended up sleeping in a chair (and not a comfortable chair, I might add), but other than that it was a really good time.

After talking to the people that did go to the prom, it seemed that the group of us at the anti-prom party had a much better time than most of the ones that went to the prom.

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/34 "2006-05-09T19:17:36Z")

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Whitby, Ontario, 1981.

I went to my prom, but don’t remember any of it. I know that I went without a date. I have a vague memory of being outside afterwards and looking at various people I knew and thinking how strange it was that we would be heading to different places, out into the world.

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**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/35 "2006-05-09T19:18:21Z")

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Like twickster, the crowd I hung out with would’ve hung me if I did. We just had a house party during it so the night was not lost.

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**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/36 "2006-05-09T19:39:29Z")

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> [@winterhawk11](#):
>
> Graduated in 1982. Didn’t go, didn’t regret it. Even if anybody had asked me, I was far too much of a tomboy to enjoy getting done up in an evening gown and all that other girly stuff. I think I was probably glad nobody asked me, since it saved me a lot of agonizing over whether it would be worth it to dress in a way that would make me uncomfortable all night.
> 
> I think it might have been fun to go with some offbeat friends, but they didn’t go either.

See, this is why I really need to work on my reading comprehension skills. I was reading this post, thinking I was reading a post by **HunterHawk**. When I get to the gown and girly stuff part, I thought, wait… I’ve met **HunterHawk**. He’s a guy. Then I saw **winterhawk11**. :smack: So, now I’m picturing **HunterHawk** in an evening gown and having myself a good giggle.

> [@Draelin](#):
>
> Senior Ball, 1994–Most memorable part of the evening was somebody coming back inside after checking a ballgame score to say “The cops are chasing O.J. Simpson, for some reason.” Again, not sorry I went, would have been sorry I missed it, but I don’t remember it being the funnest weekend ever, or anything.

I was sitting in a friend’s living room eating gawd awful chili dogs, watching another friend put highlights in another friend’s hair, drinking beer and yelling “Go! OJ! Go! OJ! Go! OJ!” over and over. Did I mention drinking beer? 😃

OK, swampbear, 1972 (what the heck’s up with so many 1972 posters in this thread?). I went. I had a date (yeah, yeah, yeah, like you were never in denial about anything) and I wore a powder blue tux, a ruffly shirt with powder blue piping, a powder blue cumberbund and a black satin bowtie. Ummm… do you suppose that maybe, perhaps, I should have taken the hint about the gay thing? I mean it was the height of 1972 fashion and I did look f-_aaaaaa_-bu- **lous**!

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**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/37 "2006-05-09T19:58:27Z")

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1974 Suburban Chicago here. I didn’t go because it was totally uncool, man…and also, I graduated the previous January so I was kind of out of the system by then. I mean, I could have gone if I had a boyfriend or if anyone had asked me, but\*…totally \* uncool.

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**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/38 "2006-05-09T21:28:23Z")

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Graduated from HS in 2002 in northeast CT. Went to my senior prom, didn’t go to my junior prom (which was actually just the senior prom for the year prior, since our school was small everyone invited the juniors to their prom to 1. subsidize and 2. make it so there were more people there). My girlfriend almost _killed_ me for not going to the junior prom; the seniors that year had chosen a place that was like an hour and a half bus ride away, and since the juniors were paying full price (90 a ticket - because we saved our class money for our, you know, senior prom) while the seniors were paying half that… I was all like, “screw this”. I’m pretty sure that’s the last time I made a girl cry 😃 To be fair, I took her out to a REALLY nice dinner that night (probably cost me almost as much, but it was about eight hundred times more enjoyable).

My senior prom was boring. I don’t like dancing, at all, and did as little as possible that would still not get me in trouble with said girlfriend. I just wasn’t the kind of guy who would show up at my HS prom drunk, and that was probably my biggest mistake 😛 I suppose I’m happy that I went, for the ‘experience’ and all that. Most of the guys at the time just saw the prom as a silly sort of thing to sit through to make all the girls happy, and I’m not sure that I disagree.

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**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/39 "2006-05-09T21:30:25Z")

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Nope - 1985, Rural Alabama - No regrets.

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**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-your-prom/356082/40 "2006-05-09T22:13:40Z")

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Second graduating class of Niceville High School, 1967.

Nope, never regretted it. I just was never into that kind of thing at that time in my life.

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