The English Language Worldwide
Author Kel Richards, Aussie Wordsmith
Pls note: The Author of this Blog Post is Kel Richards, not me!
OZWORD OF THE DAY: “Happy as a clam”
A reader writes to ask about an expression that an American friend of his keeps using: ‘happy as a clam.’ The puzzle, says my reader, is: why are clams happy? Can we even be sure they are happy? And why did anyone decide that clams are happy creatures?
The expression is American and seems to date from around 1834. It’s one of a group of these ‘happy as…’ expressions. The Oxford cites the examples of: ‘happy as a king’, ‘as a lark’, ‘as a prince’ and ‘as a pig in mud.’ Each of which seems to have some sort of logic to it—kings and princes are often rich and powerful (so, perhaps, happy); ‘larks’ sing as if they are happy; and when a pig rolls in mud it looks like it is in ecstasy. But with the little clam this logic doesn’t apply.
One suggestion is that the full expression is ‘happy as a clam at high tide’ or ‘…at high water.’ Michael Quinion suggests this is because people walk along beaches, with their little spade and bucket, digging up clams at low tide, or low water, hence when the tide is high the clam should feel safe and secure.
The other suggestion is that clams feel safe, secure and happy snuggled down in the protection of their shell. Both of which seem to me to be projecting an astonishing range of emotional sensitivity onto this small mollusc!
Grammarphobia website tells me that John Russell Bartlett, in the first edition of his Dictionary of Americanisms (1848), includes only the longer version of the expression ‘As happy as a clam at high water,’ which he says is a very common expression in those parts of the coast of New England where clams are found.
American poet John G. Saxe wrote his Sonnet to a Clam, in the late 1840s. In that salty bit of poetry, he says that a clam thinks it is safe inside its little shell, but it’s not, and will end being boiled in someone’s pot. He concludes that, in reality, a clam’s life is a hard one.
All of which just adds to our conviction that this saying of ‘happy as a clam’ make little or no sense. And that’s what you can tell your American friends.
My chat with Peta Credlin about the word ‘liberal’ is no online — you can see it here: Words Matter: Kel Richards on the origin of ‘Liberal’ | Sky News Australia
Tonight I will join John Stanley on 2GB, 4BC, 2CC and the Nine Radio Network for ‘The Word Clinic’ — right after the 10pm news.
You may wish to contact Kel at ozwords.com.au
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Published by Peter H Bloecker
Retired Educator
Updated Thu 15 May 2025.
Goethe-Institut German and English (Change Language top right on site).
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