Transcripts

Mike Carruthers:
The phrase "Happy as a clam" is used to describe someone who is extremely happy. But where did that phrase come from?

Evan Morris:
The phrase actually makes a lot more sense if you know what the whole phrase originally was, which was "Happy as a clam at high tide.

"Evan Morris, author of the book The Word Detective...

The only time that clams can be dug is at low tide, so that when it's high tide a clam is safe and secure, and you know, doesn't have to worry about people coming along and digging it up and cooking it.

Evan has uncovered the origins for lots of words and phrases, like "the hair of the dog that bit you.

"The phrase itself goes back hundreds (and maybe thousands) of years to the belief that if you were suffering from a dog bite, if you actually took some of the hair of the dog that bit you and mixed it into a poultice and applied that to the wound, that it would heal the wound more quickly.

And the origin of the word "nerd" is interesting.

In digging around for the origins of the word, authorities have focused on a really surprising source, which is a Dr. Seuss book "If I Ran The Zoo" which he wrote in 1950. And he makes reference in one of his sort of poetic stanzas to "a nerkel, a nerd, and a seersucker" as being mythical creatures. And that's the first occurrence that anybody can find of the word "nerd" in the English language.

For transcripts visit our website somethingyoushouldknow.net, I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.