Monday, December 12, 2011

Pet peeve: First annual

OK. Just got to get this off my chest. There is no such thing as "first annual." It drives me insane when I see this.

An event must be held at least two consecutive years to qualify as "annual."

Here's an example:

Instead of this:

The Northeastern Senior Citizens will hold its first annual Jingle Bell Journey from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Say this:

The Northeastern Senior Citizens will hold Jingle Bell Journey from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. The group hopes to make it an annual event.

And thank you for listening to my rant. Have a marvelous Monday!

4 comments:

  1. yeah, I think they write it that way cuz they're hoping it will be an annual event, in the future. But your way is definitely better :)

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  2. Ha, ha, ha, ha ...

    It's terrible, the way our fellow countrymen slaughter the English language.

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  3. I think your version sounds better, but theirs' tells it in less words.

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