Phrase: happy as a clam; happy as a clam at high water

[Laurence Horn]

On Nov 19, 2013, at 1:48 PM, Charles C Doyle wrote:

> It strikes me, intuitively, that elaboration is as probable (in general) as abbreviation.  I'm fairly certain that "Cold as a witch's tit" was subsequently decorated, amplified (as the old rhetoricians would have said) into "Cold as a witch's tit in a brass brassiere," for example.  There's a subtle social pressure to be cleverer than previous utterers of a given expression.  (Thence the "creativity" of folklore, in contrast to mere rote repetition.)

The difference for me is that "cold as a witch's tit" is sufficiently semantically motivated without the brass bra accouterment (related to those frost-deballed brass monkeys?), while "happy as a clam" isn't, or at least not obviously so.  Similarly, I can imagine "happy as a pig in slop/shit/mud/..." being shortened to "happy as a pig" by someone not on intimate terms with pigdom, while the bare simile isn't particularly motivated.  (This is without knowing the citation history on pigs and happiness.)

As opposed to "happy as a lark", or of course "happy as Larry", which are both eminently motivated in their short form.
>
> Of course, since we're largely dealing with oral tradition here, authentic dating is so difficult.

Granted.

LH
>
> Charlie
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I wonder if 1833 for "happy as a clam" vs. 1836 for "happy as a clam
> at high water" (or 1828 for "sad as a clam") has any
> significance.  The dates are very close.  We may just not have found
> "happy as a clam at high water" earlier.  For me, common sense says
> "happy as a clam at high water" would come first, as it is logical
> and explanatory.  And "happy as a clam" developed later, as a
> shorter, abbreviated phrase.
>
> And Barry and Larry (and the sailors; see below) agree with me.
>
> P.S.  I can mildly antedate Barry's 14 January 1836 (Newark (NJ)
> Daily Advertiser, pg. 2, col. 1) citation for "happy as a clam at
> high water".  It's also to "Mrs. Butternut":  "Dear Mrs. Butternut, I
> must leave off, for I can't say any more, only that if I was once
> more safe at home, I should be happy as a clam at high water, as the
> sailors say."  7 January 1836, Boston Courier, "The Oakwood Letters.
> Letter No. II. Aunt Sally to Mrs. Butternut.  At Seam Jun.
> 16th.",  4/1.  19th Century U.S. Newspapers.
>
> Joel
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org