Because I am a riddle wrapped in an enigma, I frequent a blog called “DC NearlyWeds,” a coterie of local pre-brides who while away their dwindling singledom by posting on the Internets about their betrothals. In my research of this Web log, I’ve found this disturbing trend: Many of these single ladies whose men have put a ring on it favor calling their bridesmaids “BMs.”

One blogger asks if her BMs ought to pay for their own makeup. Half of this blogger’s BMs have already bought their dresses. Another blogger seeks something yellow, like the “BM dresses,” for her flower girl. Yet another expounds on a BM who has had gastric bypass surgery!

This nickname ranks up there with the most humiliating of bridesmaid rituals: The intentionally unflattering pastel dresses, the scuttle to catch the bride’s bouquet, and now, sharing an abbreviation with “bowel movement.” Oh, the humanity.

Photo by mahalie