Metropolitan Diary: 'Happy' Becomes a Verb Who knows when "happy" first became a verb? I do recall the first place I heard it used this way: a crowded subway car, mid-Bronx, mid-May, 8 a.m. A teenager addressed his love, "You happy me," caressing her red hair at one of those mysterious long stops in tunnel blackness. Braiding her hair in loops, he kissed her then, as if to prove his passion knew few bounds. Then lights went out - a louder kiss. The train rolled slightly back; some P.A. static roared, wordless. No doubt, a rush hour crowd like this, heading to work, was not about to panic. Then we heard an older woman's voice, almost a shout: "Train, happy us and move!" And so language spreads.