UK spoken English: article A in "A happy new year!"

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Steve Barr - 03 Jan 2004 21:41 GMT

I have one question:

Is it common in spoken BRITISH English to say
"A happy new year!" with an A, rather than
"Happy new year!" without the A?

(Background)

In the US, "Happy new year!" is much more
common both in speech and text.

But I've seen some examples of
"A happy new year!" written by Brits.

DAVID BOWIE's site:
http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/bowienews/news0198.htm

>> A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE
>> 1st January 1998

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22a+happy+new+year%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=U
TF-8&selm=HM75BHAsmri2EwBW%40snarksville.demon.co.uk&rnum=10

> From: Dionne Siley (dionne@snarksville.demon.co.uk)
> Subject: A happy new year to all!

(UK Midlands)
From: "C-Beeby" <tweenies@northamptonshire.co.uk>

> Don't ask me to explain why, but we would
> normally say "Happy New Year!" on
> its own as an exclamation. However, if you add
> anything to the end then you
> would probably add the indefinite article. e.g.
> "A happy New Year to one and all!".
>
> Likewise one might say:
> "A Happy Christmas to you!" as an alternative
> to "Happy Christmas!"

Hi. Thanks. That makes sense, as I think it's
common to say,
"Best wishes"
by itself but
"My best wishes for the new year"
or
"My best wishes to all our new colleagues".

THere may be an explanation, but I suspect
the explanation is more phonological
than grammatical.

And if so, the explanation is likely to be
only of academic value.
In an advanced phonology class I took, the only
boring section was on prosody and meter.

Thanks again.

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Dr Robin Bignall - 03 Jan 2004 23:31 GMT

>
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>"A happy new year!" with an A, rather than
>"Happy new year!" without the A?

They are both equally acceptable. If I had to distinguish between them, I'd
probably say "Happy New year, Steve" if I was just speaking to you, and "A
Happy New Year to all of you" if I was speaking to a group of people.

Signature

wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall

Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England

Reply to this Message

Philip Anderson - 05 Jan 2004 20:23 GMT

Steve Barr wrote in message
<20040103214143.98840.qmail@web12007.mail.yahoo.com>...

>I have one question:
>
>Is it common in spoken BRITISH English to say
>"A happy new year!" with an A, rather than
>"Happy new year!" without the A?

My usage and experience agrees with C-Beeby below; that is "Happy New
Year!" stands by itself, but if it's part of a longer phrase then it
generally comes with an "A". E.g. "May I wish you a HNY" or "And a HNY
to you too"

>(UK Midlands)
>From: "C-Beeby" <tweenies@northamptonshire.co.uk>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>> would probably add the indefinite article. e.g.
>> "A happy New Year to one and all!".

Reply to this Message

Steve Hayes - 06 Jan 2004 03:48 GMT

>
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>"A happy new year!" with an A, rather than
>"Happy new year!" without the A?

It depends on the demand for figgy pudding.

Steve Hayes
hayesmstw@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

UK spoken English: article A in "A happy new year!"