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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?

Language:
English Language
Common Core Standards:

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.....

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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