You May Have Worn the Prom Dress With Him

Submission 26,689

About

You May Have Worn the Prom Dress With Him refers to a series of jokes and conversations about a viral online essay entitled "You May Have Worn The Prom Dress With Him, But I Get To Wear The Wedding Dress."

Origin

On March 28th, 2018, the website The Odyssey Online^[1] published an article entitled "You May Have Worn The Prom Dress With Him, But I Get To Wear The Wedding Dress." The essay is an open letter to the author's husband's former significant other and prom date (excerpt below).

"High school seems like the best time of your life when you are in it. You think that all of your friends will be with you until the end, and that you will end up with whoever you are dating your senior year. For very few, that might just be the case. For all others, that is far from true.

You thought that you would marry your boyfriend and you thought that everything would work out how you had always imagined. I don't blame you though. He's great. You wanted everything with him, but you were just not right for him.

I wish I could say that I am sorry it didn't work out for you, but I can't. I can't because he is mine now, and I get to cherish him forever. You didn't do that right, and you were not meant to be together. You will find someone too, but I am happy that you were not the one for him."

Spread

Several days later, on April 3rd, Twitter ^[2] user @hello_amanda shared the article and added the comment, "lmao holy fucking shit." The post (shown below) received more than 5 retweets and 70 likes.

The following day, Splinter News writer Libby Watson tweeted^[3] the article and commented, "i don't know what this website is but i am sure that i am making it my home page." The post (shown below, left) received more than 60 retweets and 760 likes.

Watson's thread led to more conversation and jokes about the article and its author. Twitter^[4] user @dumbandawful responded to the tweet with a screenshot of the first two sentences of the article with the comment, "fact check." The post (shown below, center) received more than 60 likes.

The article also inspired various memes. Twitter^[5] user @MelissaMWear posted a variation of the "Distracted Boyfriend" meme. They captioned the post (shown below, right), "I gave up social media for Lent and it gave me some perspective on how useless and mindless it really is. Then the @TheOdyssey prints this ridiculously silly piece (https://bit.ly/2Jh2XrI ) and I'm like…"

On April 5th, Twitter^[6] user @TheLastTroll posted a Political Compass meme featuring other viral essays, such as "I am tired of being a Jewish man's rebellion" and I Love This Woman and Her Curvy Body. The post (shown below) received more than 30 retweets and 225 likes in less than 24 hours.

That day, The Daily Dot ^[7] published an article about the conversation surrounding the article.