"Origins of words" by Susie Dent, Countdown 23/08/17 (happy as a clam, happy as a sandboy)

I've been asked about the origin by somebody who didn't want to give their name out, by the way, but I was always appreciate the people who e-mail in. Where does "happy as a clam" come from? What have clams got to be particulary happy about?" But to get to the story, you'd have to turn, as always, to the Oxford English Dictionary, and that quotes a Johnatan Slick in his 1844 collection of letters called High Life In New York, "Ther seemed as happy as clams in high water", which is full expression, the full term, which explain everything, really, because there's nothing you can do in trem if you're a clam hunter until it's low tide. You're certanly can't go clamming if it's high tide of high water, indeed, so that's when clams are safiest and presumable in their happiest. So, it's just as simple as that, but it's been around for over 100 years. The other expression, of course, is to be as happy as a sandboy, and that's something I'm often asked about as well. Who were sanbboys, and what did they have to be so happy about? Well, to investigate that one, you have to go back to the 18th and 19th centuries, so a little bit earlier still, and sandboys were men and boys who delivered sand to pubs anf to theatres and to homes, and this sand was used as a crude covering for floors. It was before sawdust arrived, before the spit-and-sawdust establishments, as we call them today, were around. And that sand, as I say, was a precursor to the sawdust. It soaked up all the, kind of, split beer and ale, etc. Why were they so happy? Well, as a reward for carrying such heavy loads of sand, and it was incredibly heavy, either in sacks on their backs or heavy wheelbarrow-laods, they were given ale. That was their reward, and there's a lovely mention in The Old Curiosity Shop from Dickens. He describes the sandboys in party mood, and he says, "The Joly Sandboys was a small roadside innof pretty ancient date, with tha sign representing three sandboysincreasing their jolity with as many jug of ale". So, I'm afraid, the sandboys were very happy because they had more than one tipple.