# Was Dec 31 2004... New Years Eve 2004 or 2005 ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 2, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903 "2005-02-02T01:28:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@wcalvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wcalvin)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/1 "2005-02-02T01:28:15Z")
I swear that Dec 31 2004 was New Years Eve 2005…
my wife says NO… Dec 31 2004 was New Years Eve 2004.
I say it is the eve of 2005… making it New Years Eve 2005
She says because it was in 2004 it makes it 2004, period.
Is there a correct answer?
Thanks
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### Author:  [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/2 "2005-02-02T01:49:09Z")
> [@wcalvin](#):
>
> I swear that Dec 31 2004 was New Years Eve 2005…
> my wife says NO… Dec 31 2004 was New Years Eve 2004.
> I say it is the eve of 2005… making it New Years Eve 2005
> She says because it was in 2004 it makes it 2004, period.
> Is there a correct answer?
> Thanks
This is the correct answer:
Late in the day of December 24, 2004 is the evening i.e. Christimas Eve, preceding, the next day, which is December 25, 2004.
Late in the day of December 31, 2004 is the evening i.e. New Year’s Eve, preceding, the next day, which is January 1, 2005! QED
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/3 "2005-02-02T01:53:03Z")
Actually, December 31st is my birthday. It’s a real good day to go clubbing and have the DJ play 50 Cents’ In Da Club. Annnnd it was New Year’s Eve, 2004. New Year’s Day, 2005 occurs right after midnight.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/4 "2005-02-02T02:03:54Z")
> [@spingears](#):
>
> This is the correct answer:
>
> Late in the day of December 24, 2004 is the evening i.e. Christimas Eve, preceding, the next day, which is December 25, 2004.
>
> Late in the day of December 31, 2004 is the evening i.e. New Year’s Eve, preceding, the next day, which is January 1, 2005! QED
But that doesn’t really answer the question, does it? Nobody’s disputing the fact that “December 31, 2004 is the evening i.e. New Year’s Eve, preceding, the next day, which is January 1, 2005!” And the analogy with Christmas is moot, since Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are in the same year.
The question is: Is December 31, 2004 called “New Year’s Eve 2004” or “New Year’s Eve 2005”?
And it’s even more confusing, because in common usage, “New Year’s Eve” means anything from the evening of December 31 through the wee hours of January 1. Then you pass out, and when you wake up it’s the next year.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/5 "2005-02-02T02:38:27Z")
By definition, every second of New Year’s Eve is in the earlier year. Therefore, New Year’s Eve 2004 is Dec. 31, 2004, and NYE 2005 is 12/31/05. I understand the impulse to name it for the coming year, but it’s just too confusing.
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/6 "2005-02-02T02:40:44Z")
I honestly don’t see what’s confusing here. From 12:00:00am to 11:59:59pm of December 31st, 2004 is New Year’s Eve 2004. From exactly midnight onward in whatever time zone you happen to be in, is the New Year’s Day of the new year (2005). If you’re out partying 'til three a.m. in the first new hours of the new year and still calling it New Year’s Eve, it’s a colloquial misnomer. You just need to recall what you were out celebrating for.
I mean, the thread question has the answer. December 31st, 2004 is 2004. Midnight on it’s 2005. If a bunch of drunk people are still saying it’s New Year’s Eve at 3 a.m. just 'cuz it’s dark and therefore “evening,” well, that’s the kind of solid, accurate information you tend to get when you listen to drunks.
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/7 "2005-02-02T03:20:28Z")
**spingears** and **Askia** are correct. While you may be partying on until 3:00 AM or so of the first of January, the “Eve” part expired at midnight.
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### Author:  [@wcalvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wcalvin)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/8 "2005-02-02T04:33:21Z")
Nobody gets it…
It is a celebration of 2005!
It should be referred to as New Years Eve 2005.
It’s in the name… NEW YEAR…
right, what is the new year…??
yes that is correct (for $1000) the New Year is 2005.
We are not celebrating the OLD year… are we?
This is as simple as you think… but just the opposite.
Right?
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/9 "2005-02-02T04:56:24Z")
Hmmm…, I _do_ grasp the perspective you’re taking, **wcalvin** , but, sorry, it just ain’t right. New Year’s Eve is the eve of the dawning new year, and it occurs on the evening of the last day of the prior year. It is thus part of that prior year.
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### Author:  [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/10 "2005-02-02T05:09:01Z")
I think the confusion is coming from the placement of “2005” in “New Year’s Eve, 2005”. If you were to say “December, 2005” then it’s obvious that you’re talking about the December in 2005. Likewise, “New Year’s Eve, 2005” refers to the New Year’s Eve that occurs in 2005. Placing the year at the end of a date _always_ refers to that date in the suffixed year.
Now, if you said “New Year 2005’s Eve”, then **that** would refer to December 31, 2004, as you’re talking about the eve of New Year’s Day, 2005.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/11 "2005-02-02T06:04:33Z")
I simply reason that 31 December = New Year’s Eve
Therefore, 31 December 2004 = New Year’s Eve 2004
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/12 "2005-02-02T08:22:59Z")
> [@wcalvin](#):
>
> Nobody gets it…
> It is a celebration of 2005!
> It should be referred to as New Years Eve 2005.
> It’s in the name… NEW YEAR…
> right, what is the new year…??
> yes that is correct (for $1000) the New Year is 2005.
> We are not celebrating the OLD year… are we?
>
> This is as simple as you think… but just the opposite.
>
> Right?\*\*\* [Removal of red color mine.–Askia]\*\*\*
We’re celebrating, firstly, MY BIRTHDAY. Admittedly this is an Askiacentric perspective but a valid one. Also, we do celebrate the end of the old year, with all its memories, mistakes and milestones, as well as the beginning of the new, with all its hopes and unrealized events and plans. That’s why we pour libations and sing Auld Lang Syne (or is it Syde? It’s hard to make out what drunk people are singing.)
Also you’re referring to two dates that are really 365 days apart.
New Year’s Day, 2004 is 52 weeks away from
New Year’s Eve, 2004
and
New Year’s Day, 2005 is twelve months away from
New Year’s Eve, 2005
The _changeover_ between an Eve and a Day takes one second.
So yeah, the countdown celebrations are really for the forthcoming year. But they happened over two days: 12/31/04 and 1/01/05. The “EVE” belongs to the old year, the “DAY” belongs to the new year. Remember also, Eve means “the day before”, which is in the old year.
Throwing in 2006 at the end of this year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations is just gauche and premature and disrepectful of the year we’re in now.
New Year’s Eve, 2005 is understood to be day before 2006. It’s only confusing if you want to challenge convention.
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### Author:  [@wcalvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wcalvin)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/13 "2005-02-02T18:18:03Z")
[http://abc.go.com/specials/newyearsrockineve.html](http://abc.go.com/specials/newyearsrockineve.html)
If you view ABC’s Web site…
they called 12-31-04
“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2005”
hmmmm
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/14 "2005-02-02T18:45:55Z")
> [@wcalvin](#):
>
> [http://abc.go.com/specials/newyearsrockineve.html](http://abc.go.com/specials/newyearsrockineve.html)
>
> If you view ABC’s Web site…
> they called 12-31-04
>
> “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2005”
>
> hmmmm
What’s in a name? A name is just that; the only relation to the calendar is that it places it on a finite date. I can call September 8th “Celebrate Year 2025 Day”, but it’s still a calendar day in the year in which it takes place; so this year it will be “Celebrate Year 2025 Day”, 2005, and in 2024 it will be “Celebrate Year 2025 Day”, 2024. You could call the number 9 “Ten’s Eve”, but it doesn’t make it part of 10.
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/15 "2005-02-02T18:54:50Z")
Wasn’t Dick Clark hospitalized that night? See, that’s ANOTHER thing wrong with the title.
“Dick Clark’s Rockin New Year, 2005” sounds better, IMHYUCO.
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### Author:  [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/16 "2005-02-02T19:00:23Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> What’s in a name? A name is just that; the only relation to the calendar is that it places it on a finite date. I can call September 8th “Celebrate Year 2025 Day”, but it’s still a calendar day in the year in which it takes place; so this year it will be “Celebrate Year 2025 Day”, 2005, and in 2024 it will be “Celebrate Year 2025 Day”, 2024. You could call the number 9 “Ten’s Eve”, but it doesn’t make it part of 10.
It’s Butler turns 55 day. Call it that and be done with it! 🙂
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### Author:  [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/17 "2005-02-03T00:43:14Z")
And is it “Ring in the new year” or “Bring in the new year” ?
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### Author:  [@wcalvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wcalvin)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/18 "2005-02-03T05:41:30Z")
I was thinking that maybe this site was useful… but after posting this question I realizes that it is full of a bunch of anal scientist that have no clue. I am a photographer, videographer and graphic designer… I see things much clearer than all of you stiffs. I can’t imagine anyone thinking that New Years Eve 2005 has to land in the calendar year 2005. Was the millennium in 2000… or 2001 ??
Right all of the simpletons got it wrong.
I am just saddened that no one that reads this forum gets it.
Really… this forum has missed the boat.
wcalvin
ps. I bet Cecil would get it right if he were alive today
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### Author:  [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/19 "2005-02-03T05:58:06Z")
Let’s see, I’m a Director of Photography, cam op, bass player, blah blah and so on.
Seems like you already had your mind made up when you posted your query.
It’s New Year’s Eve, 2004 followed by New Year’s Day, 2005.
Mods?
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-dec-31-2004-new-years-eve-2004-or-2005/287903/20 "2005-02-03T06:00:30Z")
Bye bye **wcalvin**. So ssrry to see that you missed your own point.
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