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ELA Drills, Beginner: Word Meanings 2 16 Views
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ELA Drills, Beginner: Word Meanings 2. When asked how she's feeling, Andrea says she's happy as a clam. What does this commonly used idiom mean?
Transcript
- 00:04
Here's your shmoop du jour brought to you by clams which is pretty [Clams on a beach]
- 00:07
impressive when you consider they don't have opposable thumbs or arms okay
- 00:13
here's our question when asked how she's feeling Andrea says she's happy as a
- 00:17
clam what does this commonly used idiom mean?
- 00:20
and here are our potential answers.....
Full Transcript
- 00:25
....alright we'll let you in on a secret the
- 00:30
meaning of this idiom is actually tied to the longer original version happy as [Clam floating in the ocean]
- 00:34
a clam at high tide it actually has little to do with the emotional states of
- 00:38
clams believe it or not they're pretty bad at reporting their feelings [Clam in counselling session with woman]
- 00:42
following our hint let's take a look at that longer version of the idiom and see
- 00:45
if we can make some sense out of it well this phrase was popularized in the early
- 00:49
19th century and it's related to clam digging which back then was the third [Man screaming while holding a clam]
- 00:53
most fun activity after riding a train and staring at a patch of sunlight on [Man staring at sunlight on the wall]
- 00:58
the wall clam digging involves digging around in the muck by the sea when the
- 01:02
tides low and it's exactly as exciting as the sun.... when the tides high people
- 01:08
can't dig in the muck which is bad for the clam diggers but great for the clam [Boy swimming and clam disappears]
- 01:13
so happy as a clam at high tide really means well happy at high tide clams are
- 01:18
nice and safe so if you're happy as a clam you're happy you're also unlikely [Man grabbed by bunch of clams in the water]
- 01:22
to be grabbed by a clam digger but being happy is the main thing here if we look
- 01:26
at our options the one that most closely lines up with that meaning is B; being in
- 01:30
a good mood so that's our answer good to hear that Andrea's is happy as a clam
- 01:34
way better than being as damp as a clam digger who won't just give up and order [Clam digger in the ocean]
- 01:39
pizza
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