{"id":22579,"date":"2022-12-01T15:36:27","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T15:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=22579"},"modified":"2022-12-01T19:41:20","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T19:41:20","slug":"as-happy-as-a-shoe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=22579","title":{"rendered":"As Happy As A Shoe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you\u2019re happy, there are various idioms to express this in English, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>as happy as a clam (at high water)<\/li>\n<li>as happy as a sandboy<\/li>\n<li>as happy as Larry<\/li>\n<li>as happy as a lark<\/li>\n<li>as happy as a pig in muck\/clover<\/li>\n<li>as happy as a dog with two tails<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Do you know\/use any others?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Clams<\/strong> are apparently free from predators at high water, therefore might be thought to be happy. Or, their shape when open looks like they\u2019re smiling<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sandboys<\/strong> were men, and boys, who delivered sand to pubs, homes and other establishments in the 18th and 19th centuries. They had a reputation for being happy perhaps because they were often drunk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Larry<\/strong> was possibly <strong>Larry Foley<\/strong> (1847-1917), an Australian boxer who never lost a fight, or might come from the slang term <strong>larrikin<\/strong>, which originated in Cornwall, and ended up in Australia and New Zealand. It refers to a rough type or hooligan who tends to lark around.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/blog\/ashappyas.jpg\" alt=\"cho sona ri br\u00f2g (as happy as a shoe)\" width=\"630\" height=\"280\"><\/p>\n<p>Idioms meaning you\u2019re happy in Scottish Gaelic are a bit different:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>cho sona ri br\u00f2g = as happy as a shoe<\/li>\n<li>cho sona ri luchag an lofa = as happy as the mouse of the loaf<\/li>\n<li>cho sona ri b\u00f2 ann an loch = as happy as a cow in a lake<\/li>\n<li>cho sona ris na h-uisegan = as happy as the larks<\/li>\n<li>cho sona ri \u00f2thaisg = as happy as a one year old ewe<\/li>\n<li>cho sona ri crodh an Taoibh Siar = as happy as cattle of the West Side<\/li>\n<li>cho sona ri cuthag ann an nead a coimhearsnaich = as happy as a cuckoo in the nest of the neighbour<\/li>\n<li>cho sona ris an R\u00ecgh = as happy as the King<\/li>\n<li>cho sona &#8216;s a tha an latha fada = as happy as the day is long<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Are there interesting equivalents in other languages?<\/p>\n<p>Sources: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.phrases.org.uk\/meanings\/as-happy-as.html\">The Phrase Finder<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faclair.com\/\">Am Faclair Beag<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you\u2019re happy, there are various idioms to express this in English, including: as happy as a clam (at high water) as happy as a sandboy as happy as Larry as happy as a lark as happy as a pig in muck\/clover as happy as a dog with two tails Do you know\/use any others? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,125,10,56,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-idioms","category-language","category-scottish-gaelic","category-words-and-phrases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22579"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22583,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22579\/revisions\/22583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}