Man moves next door to a neighbor and for many, many years never has the opportunity to meet his neighbor. It bothers him because he wants to be a good neighbor. Meanwhile his neighbor is a little eccentric. He had a terrible accident while a teenager with a horse that left his left ear mangled. He was very self conscious of it and largely avoided people. One New Year’s Day the neighbor with normal ears happens to be walking out in the snow to his rural mail box incredibly at the very same time that the one ear neighbor happens to be doing the same thing at exactly the same time. WOW…what an opportunity he thinks. So as he hollers out to his neighbor, “Hap new ear”….”Hap you ear”. The neighbor hollered back…” HORSE BIT IT OFF”

So I carefully with precise pronunciation say to all…”h a p p y. n e w y e a r”