'Hip hip hooray!' It's a staple for Aussies - but this birthday ritual baffles most other countries
"Hip hip hooray!"
It's the saying we've all used at birthday parties after someone blows out their candles.
But it turns out Australians are a rare breed of people in this regard, with only a handful of other countries familiar with this birthday ritual.
US residents don't use the phrase, nor do they know of its existence, which has led to some awkward encounters for Aussies overseas.
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All Aussies know it, but call out "hip hip hooray!" in most other countries and you'll get a confused look. Getty
Several videos posted to TikTok capture the awkward moments Aussies have yelled "Hip hip!" to a silent room of people, who then look at them like they've lost their minds.
In one video posted to TikTok, you can hear an Australian attempt to kick off the chant, with just one faint, "Hooray!" in the background, before he asks, "Wait, did you guys not 'hip hip?'"
The caption of the video said, "The day I learned Americans don't say hip hip horray, a traumatic experience to say the least."
The comments were equally as confused as the cameraman – one person wrote, "They don't hip hip hooray???" while another said, "It's not an international thing?"
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The cheer is common at birthday celebrations in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and South Africa. Getty
Turns out it is, but it's only common in a few places.
The cheer is found at birthday celebrations in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and South Africa.
"Hip hip hooray" is also used in Canada, but not really in the same way Australians use it.
The cheer we use today at birthday parties originated in England in the early 19th century, according to Word Origins.
The word "hip" was a phrase people said to get somebody's attention in the 18th century.
By the 19th century, saying "hip-hip" was a way to signal that a celebratory cheer was about to begin.
"Hurrah" dates back to the 17th century, as a way for someone to express joy and applause.
It's believed the cheer formed as a call and response in times of celebration.
The cheer made its way to Australia and New Zealand with British colonisation, which is also how it got to South Africa.
It also explains why the phrase never picked up in America, which declared its independence from Britain following the American Revolution.
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It's believed the cheer formed as a call and response in times of celebration. Getty
The nation's identity and traditions split vastly from the monarch following the revolution, meaning the phrase was never adopted.
In Australia, the tradition stuck around, and we still say it today.
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