Happy as a Clam

This past weekend, someone (I don't remember who) stated they were "happy as a clam." Someone (Linda Day?) wondered out loud how, exactly we know that clams are so happy. It was suggested that clams are considered happy because they look like they are smiling. I joined the conversation by expressing that I was as angry as a clam who looks like it is frowning because it's been turned over on it's head. I have to admit, that phrase doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easily.

I enjoy knowing the history of phrases and, as it turns out, that phrase does NOT refer to a clam's smile. From "The Phrase Finder:"

Meaning

Very happy and content.

Origin

Why would clams be happy? It has been suggested that open clams give the appearance of smiling. The derivation is more likely to come from the fuller version of the phrase, now rarely heard - 'as happy as a clam at high water'. Hide tide is when clams are free from the attentions of predators; surely the happiest of times in the bivalve mollusc world.

And, from an idioms dictionary:

Etymology: based on the full form of the phrase happy as a clam in mud at high tide (a clam that cannot be dug up and eaten, which therefore could be considered happy)

I am currently in Boston for a nursing conference. I love the benefits of my job - they pay the conference registration fee, fly me out here, put me up in a nice hotel and reimburse me up to $75/day for food. Breakfast and lunch are provided at the conference, so that means I will be going out for REALLY nice dinners the next few nights! I started tonight with a lobster feast at a high-end seafood restaurant (you know, the kind where they scrape the crumbs off the table in between courses, put pieces of mesh over the lemon wedges so you don't get any pulp on your food when you squeeze it, and the waitress has to explain to you that the lobster head on your plate is considered a delicacy so you CAN eat it, but you certainly don't have to). Um....I love my job.

Boston is a beautiful city. I am a history nut and I have absolutely LOVED roaming around the city, learning more about the events surrounding the start of the Revolutionary War and admiring the beauty of the historical buildings. We simply don't have anything like that in the Midwest!

And so, despite the rain, I can truly say that I had a wonderful first day in Boston.

Or, in other words, I am happy as a clam. In mud. At high tide. That looks like it's smiling.

Oh, also, when I got home from the cabin last weekend (you know, where we had the "happy as a clam" conversation), I found this cartoon waiting for me on one of my blogs. It was kind of like when you learn a new word and then you hear it five more times that same day.