Hello! It's 23rd September and I'm down under in Sydney at Sarah and Scott Velazquez's place. Sarah is our daughter.
THE Federation of Malaya (as it was known then) just celebrated it's 53 years of independence on 31st August. Last week on 16th September, Malaysia (now comprising of Sabah, Sarawak and The Federation of Malaya) celebrated it's 47 years of formation since 1963 (Singapore left the Malaysian Federation on 6th July 1965) . We now call it Malaysia Day.
(A historical note here: Sabah gained it's independence from Britain on 16th September 1963 by joining the newly formed Malaysia whilst Sarawak actually gained independence on 22nd July 1963).
So what's the puzzle here?
It is incorrect to say that we celebrated the 53rd Merdeka Day. Or for that matter the 47th Malaysia Day. We should say we celebrated 53 years of independence. The first day of independence is 31st August 1957. So count it year by year and 31st August 2010 is actually the 54th.
To further clarify, it is absurb to say somebody celebrates his 61st birthday when he is sixty-one years old. We should say, he celebrates his birthday today, the 2nd of October. He is sixty-one years old today.
However, where anniversaries are concerned, after one year of marriage, we say that the couple celebrate their 1st Wedding Anniversary.
So there you are!
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2 comments:
It's quite logical to say you're celebrating your sixty-first birthday when you turn 61. Think about it - you celebrate a child's first birthday when he/she turns one. (But he/she is beginning his/her second year of life.)
We don't conventionally refer to the day we were born as our first birthday - that's just "the day we were born", but we refer to that date subsequently as our birthday.
Hi there BKing. Thank you for being the First Commenter. Actually, we meant that I was celebrating my 61st birthday anniversary. By convention (rightly or wrongly), for birthdays, the "anniversary" has been dropped.
In the same light, the day you are born cannot be referred to as the 0th birthday (or birthday anniversary).
Very pedantic, I must admit, King Siong.
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