Click below to listen to the phrase.
Choose the correct definition a, b or c.
a) very happy
Well done ! That’s the right answer.
To be happy as a clam means to be very happy. There are two versions of this phrase. The longer version of the phrase, as happy as a clam at high tide [or water] explains very well why a clam would be "happy" in the first place.
Basically, clams are most vulnerable when the tides are low because that’s the time when people can easily dig them up out of the ground. Hence, a clam is "happiest" during a high tide, or high waters, because it means they are less likely to be caught and eaten !
French translation
être aux anges, heureux comme un poisson dans l’eau, heureux comme un pape
How NOT to translate : *content comme une palourde
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Examples in context
‘Cher is not a fan of her own voice
Cher has sold millions of records, but she likely isn’t listening to any of her own music because she is “not a Cher fan.”
“I just never liked my voice that much. If I had my choice, I probably would have another one, but I didn’t get my choice. I got my mother’s voice,” she says in an interview with Paper magazine. “It doesn’t sound like a man, it doesn’t sound like a woman. I’m somewhere more in-between.”
(...)
Finally, she notes, “I mean, people seem to like it and I’m happy as a clam, but I wouldn’t have picked it.”’
Mix 98,7, 27 Oct. 2023
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Everyday usage
After finally getting the promotion she had been working so hard for, Sarah was happy as a clam.
Everything in my life seems to be going great ; I’m happy as a clam.
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