# Anniverseries that aren't

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anniverseries-that-arent/50200>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 15, 2001, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anniverseries-that-arent/50200 "2001-01-15T20:17:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pwgary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@pwgary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pwgary)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anniverseries-that-arent/50200/1 "2001-01-15T20:17:51Z")

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I have several newlywed friends who are into celebrating at the drop of a hat, and as such have thrown parties for their “1 month anniversary”, “3 month anniversary”, etc. I also know that according to my Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, anniversary means “the annual recurrence of a date marking a notable event”. So obviously a 1 month anniversary makes about as much sense as celebrating a 1 month millenium. My question thus becomes:  
What do you call the periodic but not necessarily annual recurance of a date marking a notable event?

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**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anniverseries-that-arent/50200/2 "2001-01-15T20:37:15Z")

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Um, how about “anniversary”? Although _anniversary_ originally meant “day recurring yearly”, the usage of “three -month anniversary” has become fairly common. I expect that this usage will makes its way into the dictionaries before too long.

[The Mavens’ Word of the Day](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000131) has a column on this about a year ago. Basically, it talked about how we have borrowed the word “anniversary” from ourselves to fit a need for which we didn’t have a word. Our language is flexible, and just as the meaning of “decimated” has changed (at least in common usage), the meaning of “anniversary” is changing.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2001, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anniverseries-that-arent/50200/3 "2001-01-16T00:29:01Z")

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See an earlier thread: [Monthly wedding remembrance](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=46569). If you absolutely must celebrate them, you should call them mensiversaries.