A native Japanese speaker is mystified by the expression “happy as a clam.” In Japanese, she says, if you had a good night’s sleep you might say you “slept like a clam” or “slept like mud.” So why do English speakers think clams are content? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Happy as a Clam”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, my name is Yoko calling from San Diego.
Hi, Yoko. Welcome to the program.
Thank you.
What can we do for you?
Yeah, I heard a few weeks ago on your program that there was an expression of happy like a clam.
I wanted to know how that expression came about because for me as a native Japanese speaker, clams don’t really talk or laugh.
We use the word clam in a different colloquial way.
You do?
Yeah.
How do you use it?
Well, be a clam or become a clam means you would be like a dormant or you don’t speak at all.
But I often use the term, I sleep like a clam, which is, I guess, the equivalent of sleep like a log.
Oh, okay.
In Japanese, you sleep like a clam?
Well, it’s actually more of a, I guess it’s a very casual, colloquial way of saying it.
The correct term of equivalent of sleep like a log is sleep like mud.
Oh, really?
Yeah, but what happened was one time I was talking to my husband, who is American, and I said, oh, I slept really well last night.
I slept like a clam.
And he just had this really blank stare.
He was like, what are you talking about?
And I was like, you know, I slept really well.
And he’s like, oh, sleep like a log.
So it seems like, I mean, for me, sleep like a clam really makes sense because, you know, they are under the ocean and don’t really move around and kind of, you know, happily sleeping.
Yeah, it’s dark in there.
But happy like a clam doesn’t really make sense to me.
And I wanted to find out what may be the origin of that.
Oh, yeah, we can help you with that.
Sure, absolutely.
But I tell you, Yoko, I’m dying to know what it sounds like in Japanese to say, I slept like a clam.
Kaiみたいに nemutta.
Oh.
It’s melodic even.
You’re absolutely right.
It doesn’t make sense.
But the truth is that it’s a shortened version of the phrase, happy as a clam at high tide.
Right.
That makes sense.
But he’s buried in the sand.
He’s under the water.
He’s feeding himself, right?
Because there’s water covering his shell.
So he’s happy, right?
And he’s safe.
Yeah, nobody can dig him up because it’s high tide.
Okay, okay.
Makes sense.
So it’s not like a clam is laughing or something.
It’s just sort of contentness.
Yeah, that’s a great way to put it.
Okay.
Okay, that makes sense.
Yeah, so it’s just a shortened version of happy as a clam at high tide.
Okay.
But I love hearing your version of it.
Yeah.
Yeah, my husband is now used to me giving lots of English expression that came from a Japanese saying.
Oh, yeah? Give us some more. I’d love to hear some.
Yeah, how do you say that you’re very happy? What’s the idiom for very happy in Japanese?
I’m not sure what I would say, but the expression I use a lot, and now my husband is learning, is I often say such and such is small as cat’s forehead.
Small as a cat’s forehead.
Yeah, when you talk about a little land, small patch of land, because cat has a really small forehead, there’s a Japanese expression called it’s a small cat’s forehead.
I love that.
And what is that in Japanese?
Neko no hitai hodo chisai.
Love it.
Love it.
Very good.
Well, Yoko, thank you so much for calling and sharing this stuff with us.
Yeah, you enriched our conversation.
Thank you.
Arigato.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Well, if you speak English as a second or third or fourth language, we’d love to hear some of the expressions that you use to enrich conversation.
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