Saturday, January 08, 2011

As Happy As...

At present I am not happy. Joy is mostly absent from my life. Contentment is a distant memory. I'm informed, however, that I am not depressed and I suppose that is something to be glad about.

I sat musing on the sofa just now while watching Bert destroy a perfectly good piece of fish. "You're going to fry it!" I exclaimed in horror. "The only way to cook that fish is to poach it in seasoned milk and butter then make a nice sauce with the liquid." He insisted that frying was the way to go. Off to Pearlie's pantry he popped to get the really awful cooking oil she favours. "At least fry it in butter," I implored him. He was having none of it. He really is a philistine.

So anyways there is me sitting on the sofa suffering the reek as Bert destroyed a perfectly good piece of fish and pondering happiness and the lack of it in my life. I got to thinking of all the 'happy as' sayings, such as -

As happy as a sandboy.

As happy as a clam.

As happy as a pig in shit.

Then this one. Has anyone ever heard it before?

As happy as a goat a-hanging.

It's one of Bert's favourites. Now why should a goat a-hanging be the least bit happy? Beats me.

4 comments:

Grannymar said...

Ads happy as Larry. I wonder who he was?

Nelly said...

Might the goat a-hanging been called Larry?

Anna said...

Maybe he meant happy as as a "hung" goat...

Anonymous said...

Yip it was grandfather's favourite phrase. He was Irish. I think it may be macabre and refer to the "smile" of the slit throat.