ESL Blogs

Hahaha .. you thought that I have had enough torturing you guys with all those obscure and maybe needless facts? You thought wrong. LOL. Here comes another one in the Did You Know? Series.

1. Did You Know?

2. Did You Know? - Continuation

3. Did You Know? - Another Continuation

4. Did You Know? - Not Another Continuation!

5. Did You Know? - Gosh! Will it never ends?

6. Did You Know? -Oh No! Not Another One!

Did You Know?

1. Why happiness is always associated with animals?

There are many idioms/expressions/figure of speech which associate happiness with animals. This is because we tend to anthropomorphise animals, which attributing human emotions and motivations to us. There are three clear expression of happiness which associated with animal.

One is "as happy as a lark". This figure of speech/expression means extremely happy. A lark is a bird that has a beautiful and melodious song. It's always said that when we are happy we will sing, thus, as happy as a lark.

Second one is "as happy as a clam". This means we are happy and contented. This is the shorter version of the expression. The original version is " as happy as a clam at high water". It was said that a happy clam looks like smiling. This expression was believed to be originated from North Eastern states of USA.

However, a third expression "as happy as Larry" is not derived from animal. It was believed originated from Australia or New Zealand. One source said it was referring to Australian boxer Larry Foley (1847-1917). However, another source said it was referring to term "larrikin" for a street rowdy or young urban hooligan, recorded from the late 1860s but known especially in Australia and New Zealand from the 1880s onwards in reference to a specific subculture.

2. As snug as a bug in a rug

This is a humorous way of saying very warm and comfortable. The origin of this idiom is very interesting because of the three key words in here; snug, bug and rug. The origin of these three key words themselves are as interesting as the idiom. Apparently the word "snug" was originally did not mean "comfortable" but instead "neat, trim, well prepared". It was John Lane who used the word "snugginge" to mean "comfortable" in his Continuation of Chaucer's Squire's Tale in 1595.

Then the origin of the second key word "bug". The word "bug" or "bugge" originally meant "ghost or ghoul" in the Coverdale Bible in Psalm 91:5. However, Daniel Rogers in his Namaan the Syrian in 1642 used the term "bugge" to refer to an ant, thus the first recorded citation of bug as an insect. 

Then finally, the third key word "rug". In Tudor time, the word "rug" meant the same thing as "rag". At that time, rug was a thick woolen blanket. It was not used on the floors as what it was now.

After considering all the origins of these three words, it was not surprising that the whole phrase meant very warm and comfortable since it was not hard to imagine a place more pleasant for a bug to snuggle down than a warm rug. 

Hmm ... that's all for this time.