Hip hip hooray

Hip hip hooray (also hippity hip hooray; hooray may also be spelled and pronounced hoorah, hurrah, hurray etc.) is a cheer called out to express congratulation toward someone or something, in the English-speaking world and elsewhere.

By a sole speaker, it is a form of interjection. In a group, it takes the form of call and response: the cheer is initiated by one person exclaiming "Three cheers for...[someone or something]" (or, more archaically, "Three times three"^[1][2][3][4]), then calling out "hip hip" (archaically, "hip hip hip") three times, each time being responded by "hooray" or "hurrah".

The cheer continues to be used to express congratulations. In Australia, South Africa, and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom, the cheer is usually expressed after the singing of "Happy Birthday to You".^[5] In Canada and the United Kingdom, the cheer has been used to greet and salute the monarch at public events.^[6][7]