How happy are clams?

How happy are clams?

Seriously, why do people say "happy as a clam"? Last night (as I write this) I was visiting my parents. My Mother said that their cat was rolling around on the driveway, happy as a clam. I asked, "How happy can a clam be? It's a shell full of snot." None of us knew the full meaning of the phrase; hence, this post.

Some people say, incorrectly, that clams must be happy because they appear to be smiling. I say to those people that if you flip it upside down, the clam is frowning.

This is one of the few sayings that cannot be traced back to Billie Shakespeare. There are two versions of this saying, "Happy as a clam," and "Happy as a clam at high tide." At high tide, a clam would be very happy as it would be safe from terrestrial and avian predators.

The earliest, written reference to the phrase that I could find comes from the 1833 book The Harpe's Head - A Legend of Kentucky.

"It never occurred to him to be discontented... He was as happy as a clam."

In 1840, John Saxe used the phrase in his "Sonnet to a Clam."

    "Inglorious friend! most confident I am
     Thy life is one of very little ease;
     Albeit men mock thee with their similes,
     And prate of being 'happy as a clam!'"

The following was published in the Bangor Daily Whig And Courier from 1841:

"Your correspondent has given an interesting, and, undoubtedly correct explanation of the expression:  'As happy as a clam at high water.' His pursuits must be anything but Clam-berous, if we may judge from his knowledge of the nature and habit of this interesting little fish."

   
The expression made it into Dictionary Of Americanisms - A Glossary of Words And Phrases Usually Regarded As Peculiar To The United States, 1848 edition:

"As happy as a clam at high water," is a very common expression in those parts of the coast of New England where clams are found.

Also in 1848, the Southern Literary Messenger from Richmond, Virginia expressed the opinion that the phrase "is familiar to everyone".

And finally, the image, above, is of the Walrus and the Carpenter and they are talking to oysters. I know this. I also know that oysters are never happy. But I like the image.