Why do people want you to be happy?

    I may be one of few, but I don't like the word happy. Look it up. "favored by circumstance" lucky" having, showing, causing a feeling of pleasure "suitable and clever".  Or at least according to a Concise edition of Webster's Dictionary, these are some of the meanings.
   So, when someone wishes me a happy birthday, are they hoping it is suitable and clever? I guess you'll all go with the feeling of pleasure definition. That sounds good.
   How often do you experience a feeling of pleasure? Or any of these on a continuous basis? Unless you're often drunk and/or on drugs, probably not often.
    So why is it that so many people ask you if you're happy? If I said, well maybe for a few minutes this morning when the scale was kind. Or maybe when I found that item I coveted on clearance.
    Because no one actually understands what it is the word means. Okay. That's mean and pejorative.  I just looked that last one up. I can't spell and since I'm talking about meaning, I wanted to be sure.
   I think, we are just creatures of habit, spewing out whatever we have learned over our lifetime. It's the same as the polite greeting we ask of our friends, "how are you?" praying they don't actually tell us because we have things to do and places to go, and let's face it, we don't always care.
  So, my theory becomes, being polite and using social graces is outdated and false but habitual. And like many habits. I should be broken.