Veteran journalist and expert in the English Language, Seth Akintoye, has sparked a debate over the expression, ‘Happy New Year in advance’. In a Facebook post, he argues that it is erroneous. His grouse is that while ‘Happy New Year’ is the correct and universal expression, ‘in advance’ is a needless Nigerian creation. He puts it sarcastically (or, if you like, sakastically, in honour of comedian Saka):
Nigerians and their English: Happy New Year in advance!
This stirred up a controversy with some people trying to puncture his point while others are supporting it. By the way, Akintoye, also called Baba Seth, is a former Manager, Editorial Training and Language Control at Punch Nigeria Limited.
The issue Akintoye raised is interesting in the sense that it has again ignited the intrigue between standard, universal and cultural statuses of languages. Baba Seth’s main thesis is that there is nothing like ‘Happy New Year in advance’ in standard English. And a search through many dictionaries suggests that he is correct because none features ‘in advance’ with ‘Happy New Year’. To him, therefore, the fact that the added phrase is not recognised by the owners of the language makes it unacceptable.
But the rebels – or liberals – including another senior journalist and fiery columnist, Tunde Odesola, won’t take this. Firstly, they note that the expression does not feature in the British or American English does not mean it is automatically wrong. Secondly, they add, language should be allowed to bear the cultural differences of its users. The matter may thus be very slippery because language is both rule-governed and conventional. As a matter of fact, arbitrariness is also one of its characteristics.
Odesola argues:
Apart from the fact that language serves as a conveyor of meaning, expressions, ideas etc., it serves its purpose when users relate to it in a way they best understand.
I’m not calling for the muddling up of Queen’s English here, no.
I’m only saying if you can wish people a Merry Christmas before December 25, why is it wrong to wish someone happy new year in advance? Everywhere you go, you hear people saying Merry Christmas, and it’s not Christmas yet.
If you are talking about the timeline, that is, everyone knows the New Year isn’t here yet, so we should just say, Happy New Year, and not add ‘in advance’ to it, I still do not agree with you, sir.
Happy New Year
Baba Seth’s argument, again, is that Happy New Year is simply Happy New Year, with his supporters also asking whether you greet in advance or wish people Happy New Year in arrears. This further raises the question of whether it is right to wish people a happy new year before the first of January. And, if you do so, will ‘Happy New Year’ alone be appropriate? Interestingly, Cambridge Dictionary appears to answer the poser in the affirmative when it defines ‘New Year’ as ‘the beginning of the year that is about to begin or has just begun’. Its second example here is particularly instructive:
I’m spending New Year (the first days of the new year) in Scotland with my parents.
Best wishes for Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The second example suggests that the New Year is still ahead, meaning that ‘Happy New Year’ already captures what Odesola and his team have in mind when they use ‘in advance’.
Culture
Back to the argument: Must one greet another fellow Happy New Year before January first? A logical question but the choice arguably belongs to the person concerned as well as their culture. The main question thus borders on how to express it, not whether or not it is correct to so bring the greeting forward.
Mama put
Another point the Odesolas have advanced in favour of ‘in advance’ is that such an expression has the chance of eventually being accepted into the universal bank – as Oxford Dictionaries did in 2020 by enlisting Nigerian English terms such as ember month, danfo, mama put, non-indigene, guber, Kannywood and next tomorrow. A smart argument? Yes, only that the term remains informal, if not incorrect, until it is listed.
Meaning of ‘in advance’
The term, ‘in advance’, exists in English, even if ‘Happy New Year in advance’ does not. It is simply defined as ‘ahead in time’, as in ‘You need to book two weeks in advance.’ As an idiom, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English by A.S. Hornby (seventh edition) presents it as ‘in advance (of something)’. According to it, the expression means:
- before the time that is expected
- before something happens
Based on this definition, how wrong would it then be to use the phrase alongside ‘Happy New year’ when the real day has yet to come? If we insist it is wrong, are we going to say the same of ‘Happy birthday in advance’? These winding positions may thus suggest that one will not be able to be rigid on the status of ‘Happy New Year in advance’.
Conclusion
- The most popular standard expression for the new-season greeting is Happy New Year.
- Happy New Year in advance is not popular in the English tradition but it is culturally understandable and acceptable. The Advanced Learner’s definition also supports it grammatically.
- It is advised that you use the formal version ‘Happy New Year’ in formal/international contexts, including exams, since there are many Baba Seths outside there.
