A newcomer to Facebook, I noticed that people’s birthdays are
publicized, and we’re told to say something “nice” to them, like “Happy
Birthday!” Of course, why not? It’s a social medium. What could be more sociable than wishing
somebody a “happy birthday?”
But there’s a problem. Some people think the expression happy birthday is oxymoronic. They tend to go along with the folk
wisdom of the ancient Greek sages who said: “Best of all things is never to
have been born.”