No wonder researchers find happiness hard to quantify. Type in "Happiness is ..." on Google.com and you'll find 1.7 million different definitions of bliss. Among them:
• Happiness is getting an e-mail saying that the Mac Pro I ordered on Wednesday has shipped. I should have it by Tuesday. (Wingedpig.com, April 7, 2007)
• Happiness is a warm gun. (Wikipedia.org, 1968 Beatles song)
• Happiness is paying your taxes, study suggests. (CBC.ca, June 15, 2007)
• Happiness is Dean Martin. (Linevision.com)
• Happiness is a mental illness. (Kuro5hin.org, April 11, 2007)
• Happiness is a beach, sometimes. (Psychology Today, January/February, 2006)
• Happiness is pets: The home of Chicagoland's finest puppies. (Happinessispets.com, an Illinois kennel chain)
• Happiness is a new shower head. (Kottke.com, Feb. 24, 2000)
• Happiness is a cool electric guitar. (Fridhammar.com/guitars.html)
• Happiness is a well-stocked pantry. (Monicaricci.typepad.com, Blog of Monica Ricci, professional organizer and HGTV regular, May 17, 2007)
• Happiness is divided government. (Volokh.com, blog post, Nov. 10, 2006, in the wake of U.S. midterm elections)
• Happiness is being sufficiently competent at touch typing that I can type on my laptop in a completely unlit room and still make only about the same number of typos that I make when I can see my keyboard perfectly. (Scalzi.com, blog post, Jan. 29, 2007)
• Happiness is positive cash flow! (BusinessTown.com)
• Happiness is good cheap Mexican food within walking distance from my house. (Superbeck.com, May 14,2007)
• Happiness isn't a place in Vermont. Happiness is Vermont. (Virtualvermont.com/happiness)
• Happiness is knowing there's a small glass bottle of Coca-Cola in the fridge at work (waiting for me). (Justinsomnia.org, blog, Nov. 17, 2003)
• Happiness is a fast car. (Forbes.com, March 4, 2005)
• Happiness is a rich, married Republican. (Libraryjournal.com, Feb. 16, 2006) !
• Happiness is a snip away. (Britishcouncil.org, May, 2005)
• Happiness is a Dyson vacuum cleaner. (Danwarne.com, April 9, 2006)
Compiled by Matthew Trevisan
