I’ve been back in France for a while after the Christmas holidays and am being constantly reminded of one of the odd, low-level cultural differences between here and the US.
It seems to be absolutely obligatory that you wish people happy New Year once (and only once) if you talk to them in early January. Far more so than in the US.
Here’s an example email that I just got (which has the benefit of being in English, even if it was written by a Dutchman living in France :-):
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Subject: Account Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2017 15:42:53 +0100 From: Bart To: Ganga Hi Ken, Let me start by wishing you a happy new year, and my best wishes for a good and healthy 2017! I would like to ...
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and…
Subject: Kickoff meeting Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2017 12:04:55 +0100 From: Herb To: list Dear all, Happy new year to all of you ! The wiki page...
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And here are similar emails in French:
Subject: Version finale Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2017 13:53:47 +0100 From: Al To: list Bonjour à tous, Tout d'abord, je vous envoie mes meilleurs voeux pour la nouvelle année! Par ailleurs...
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Subject: Appel Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2017 11:48:50 +0100 From: Steve To: list Bonjour à toutes et à tous, Mes meilleurs voeux pour 2017 ...
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Most of my messages after the new year start like this. It’s like clockwork! The difficult part is knowing when to stop. It’s January 10th and most of many of my messages still have this. I don’t think it goes longer than a couple of weeks, and you’re really not supposed to wish someone a happy new year twice, of course.
It really reminds me of my “Bonjour” problem. You’re absolutely supposed to say “bonjour” to people when you first see them, but it seems to be a total faux-pas to say it twice to the same person in the same day!
Some day I’ll figure it out…