Today would have been the birthday of

[Kontol]

Shouldn't this sentence instead be "Today is the birthday of Jack Nicholas?" What do you think?

Today would have been the birthday of our FA Cup winning captain, Jack Nicholas

https://twitter.com/x/status/1728730321086972209

 

[Tarheel]

I agree with you. However, I would say, "Today is Ron's birthday."

 

[emsr2d2]

No. He's dead. After you're dead, you don't have birthdays.

 

[Tarheel]

No. He's dead. After you're dead, you don't have birthdays.

The OP didn't say that.

 

[Kontol]

There might be an AmE/BrE difference here. A British speaker says "Today would have been ...", whereas an American speaker says "Today is ..."

 

[Tarheel]

@Kontol I think you're right. People might say, "Today is Ron's birthday. If he were alive he'd be 88.

 

[emsr2d2]

The OP didn't say that.

The phrase "would have been the birthday of ..." is what tells us he's dead. If he was alive, it would say "is the birthday of ...".

 

[SoothingDave]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Nicholas

No, it's not an American/British difference. As emsr2d2 said, he is dead. Dead people don't have birthdays. It would have been his birthday if he were still alive.

 

[Tarheel]

The phrase "would have been the birthday of ..." is what tells us he's dead. If he was alive, it would say "is the birthday of ...".

That's what I was thinking, but he doesn't look dead in that picture. I guess it's not current.

 

[emsr2d2]

That's what I was thinking, but he doesn't look dead in that picture. I guess it's not current.

I can't work out if you're being serious.

 

[Tarheel]

I talked to my usage consultant. I said:

Do we say it's somebody's birthday even if they're deceased? For example, "Today is Martin's birthday. He would be 88 today."

She said she would say it like that.

 

[milan2003_07]

I've read the posts in this thread with great interest and the comments of forum participants are very helpful.

However, I have a question. If a person were alive, we would celebrate his birthday today. I like the phrase 'Today is someone's birthday'. I wonder why we use 'would have been'. This construction is used when we are speaking about unreal situations in the past, but in this context we are speaking about the present day, so I would use 'would be someone's birthday'.

Please, explain.

 

[Kontol]

Here is another example from the BBC Remembering the genius of Garrincha

Garrincha would have been a real star today, no question about it - a superstar.