Here’s a question: If you were invited to the “First Annual Belly-Flop to Fight Hernias” fundraiser, how many years would you think the fundraiser had been going on?
Seeing the phrase, “First Annual,” many people would suspect this year’s Belly-Flop event is the first. They’d probably be right. But if the American Hernia Foundation were using “First Annual” correctly, this year’s event would actually be the second.
A first-time event has its own word: inaugural. Inaugural means, according to Merriam-Webster, “making a beginning” or “the first in a projected series.” So the Hernia Foundation (if it existed — and it doesn’t) might be hoping that this year’s Belly Flop didn’t flop, and that the demand for another such event would surface.
That’s fine. But it’s that second Belly Flop event that would be accurately termed the “First Annual.”
(How often do these kinds of “annual” fundraising events make it to year two anyway? This year, the Hernia folks may try belly-flopping; next year, it’ll be on to belly-dancing.)
The Associated Press Stylebook makes it clear: “An event cannot be described as annual until it has been held in at least two successive years.” AP suggests that if an editor receives a press release with the words “First Annual,” he or she should delete that offending two-word phrase and note instead that the event’s sponsors plan to hold it again a year from now.
Think of it this way: The day a boy is born is not his first birthday. It is the day of his birth. Only a year later — on the “first annual” date of his birth — do we say he celebrates his first birthday. On the 15th annual date of his birth, he celebrates his 15th birthday. Which, incidentally, is about the time to start educating him about hernias.
Neil Chethik, aka the Grammar Gourmet, is executive director at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning (www.carnegieliteracy.org) and author of FatherLoss and VoiceMale. The Carnegie Center offers writing classes and seminars for businesses and individuals. Contact Neil at neil@carnegiecenterlex.org or (859) 254-4175.