Happy New Year! Learn some New Year vocabulary and practise how to wish people ¡Feliz año nuevo!

As we record this, it’s nearly time to celebrate the New Year and a new decade. How do you wish someone a Happy New Year in English, and what’s that strange song English speakers sing on New Year’s Eve?

Some feedback from Pilar from France who is a film buff.
A little email to tell you that I was very happy to listen to your podcast about the cinema. I am a huge fan of cinema in general and of classical (classic) in particular.
You talked about films that I really love, maybe most of all “In the heat of the night” and “Casablanca”

Also, I am keen on pre-code films from the early thirties.
In fact, it’s one of the reasons I’m trying to improve my listening, to be able to understand those films in original version and because sometimes they don’t have any subtitles.
And speaking about quotes, I love this one from Mae West: Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.

To finish, do you know “elegi un mal dia para dejar de fumar “

Handing Lady: Nervous?
Ted Striker: Yes. Very.
Handing Lady: First time?
Ted Striker: No, I’ve been nervous lots of times.

Ted Striker: Surely you can’t be serious.
Dr. Rumack: I am serious…and don’t call me Shirley.

New Year Vocabulary

Words we didn’t teach you in our Christmas and New Years special: https://inglespodcast.com/82

New Year’s Eve / New Year’s Day
Hogmanay – traditional Scottish name for New Year.
In Scotland, Hogmanay/New Year is even more important than the rest of the UK. Fo many people, Edinburgh is the place to be for the New Year celebrations. Very interesting fact: there was no public holiday in Scotland for Christmas for about 400 years until 1958!!!! Yet both 1st and 2nd January were and are still public holidays, unlike the rest of UK, to make up for this.
Why? Following the Protestant Reformation, the Church of Scotland, ie. the Presbyterian Church, deemed a specific Christmas Day to be unworthy of celebration, as the exact birth date of Jesus isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Bible. (The Church of England/Anglican Church is different and much closer to Catholic traditions.)
First footer(s) – first guest(s) to visit your house for New Year, around midnight. They should bring gifts, traditionally whisky, shortbread, salt, coal, bread. Not so common as in the past, but still happens in parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Isle of Man, though usually just with the whisky. (Reza’s mum, an Ulster-Scot, i.e. a typical Northern Irish Protestant, Presbyterian, and of Scottish descent, remembers first-footers visiting with coal and whiskey in her childhood on Old Year’s Night/New Year’s Eve. She still prefers to say Old Year’s Night!)
A public holiday / bank holiday / long weekend
on the stroke of midnight
countdown
to put up decorations
streamers

to make/propose a toast
“(Here’s) to _[toast]”
“bubbly”, “champers” – champagne
fireworks, a firework display
to bring in the New Year
to start the year with a bang
tipsy = when you’ve had a bit too much to drink
drunk = when you’ve had far too much to drink
hangover
New year’s resolutions (make vows to do things differently in the coming year): to cut out / cut down on / give up / set goals / make changes / focus on / make lifestyle changes / self-improvement / turn over a new leaf (Craig’s a sucker for New Year’s resolutions!)

Also reflect on times that have passed:

Auld Lang Syne (‘old long since’ – days gone by) based on a poem by Robert Burns

Wishing someone a happy/prosperous New Year

Wishing you a New Year filled with happiness and joy.
Season’s greetings
May all your wishes/dreams come true.
All the very best for the year ahead.
I hope the coming year brings you health, happiness and success.
Have a fantastic/wonderful/smashing/incredible/amazing/awesome New Year.

…and now it’s your turn to practise your English.
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On next week’s episode: English expressions for awkward and uncomfortable situations

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’