# "Happy Birthday" or "Happy birthday"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-or-happy-birthday/750180>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 25, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-or-happy-birthday/750180 "2016-03-25T23:45:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-or-happy-birthday/750180/1 "2016-03-25T23:45:59Z")

</div>

Which do you prefer, when writing on a greeting card or FB wall?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-or-happy-birthday/750180/2 "2016-03-25T23:49:59Z")

</div>

I do neither of those things, but I loathe excessive capitalization.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-or-happy-birthday/750180/3 "2016-03-26T09:25:24Z")

</div>

The first one

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-or-happy-birthday/750180/4 "2016-03-26T10:35:44Z")

</div>

“Happy Birthday” is a song. I use the latter.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-or-happy-birthday/750180/5 "2016-03-26T11:50:30Z")

</div>

For Facebook I use, “Happy, happy, happy, happy!” or some variant. They _know_ it’s their birthday.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-or-happy-birthday/750180/6 "2016-03-26T12:30:33Z")

</div>

I’ll write “Happy Birthday.” I can’t believe anybody is actually bothered by it or would be ill-mannered enough to criticize me for it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-or-happy-birthday/750180/7 "2016-03-26T12:37:30Z")

</div>

I’ll write “hap bday” because I don’t have time for extra characters with my go-go lifestyle.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-or-happy-birthday/750180/8 "2016-03-26T14:16:02Z")

</div>

> [@Jophiel](#):
>
> I’ll write “hap bday” because I don’t have time for extra characters with my go-go lifestyle.

Thx!