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Other Ways to Say HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Many happy returns of the day! Many more happy returns! I wish you a wonderful birthday! Have a great one! .....
CHI NGUYEN
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Other Ways to Say HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Many happy returns of the day! Many more happy returns! I wish you a wonderful birthday! Have a great one! .....
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Other Ways to Say HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Many happy returns of the day! Many more happy returns! I wish you a wonderful birthday! Have a great one! .....
Find this Pin and more on study English by CHI NGUYEN.
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I've been trying for years to find out what the traditional birthday greeting: "Many Happy Returns" means exactly. Anybody know?
Chris Prophet, Sweden
- The full phrase "Many happy returns of the day" means exactly what it says. May the day [your birthday] return many times to you
and may you be happy. I.e. may you have a long and happy life.
John Charnock, Warrington Cheshire
- You are being wished many returns of this day, your birthday. In other words you are being wished a long life.
Roger Thomson, Brighton, UK
- It is short for "many happy returns of the day" and means that the person, who is speaking, is wishing that the person with the birthday will have many more of them, i.e. that their birthday will return many times
more and that they will therefore live a long life.
Liz, Nyköping Sweden
- Many returns of your birthday. A wish for a long life.
Jonathan, Lancaster, UK
- Presumably it is a cheery recognition that your birthday has returned i.e. you are still alive despite wars, disease, pestilence and the rest!
Maureen Edwards, Newcastle upon Tyne UK
- I've heard an astronomical explanation of this - the sun returns to the same place in the
ecliptic [a solar return], hence the wish that this will happen many more times.
Simon, Malmo, Sweden
How do you wish someone many happy returns?
"Many happy returns" is a greeting which is used by some on birthdays, and by others in response to "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year". Since the 18th century this has been used as a salutation to offer the hope that a happy day being marked would recur many more times.
What does many happy returns mean?
Definition of [many] happy returns
old-fashioned. —used for wishing someone a happy birthday and to express the hope that he or she will live to celebrate many more birthdays in the future.
Is it correct to say wish you many more happy returns of the day?
Is it correct to say “many happy returns of the day”? Yes, it is absolutely a correct thing to say to someone on their birthday.