Aug 22 2005
“Happy as Larry”
I commented to a US friend that he was "as happy as Larry"
he replied "who is Larry?"
I was stumped…
stumped? a cricketing analogy? It felt like it! The nearest meaining provided by the Oxford English Dictionary for Stumped is "Truncated; abruptly terminated, as if cut short"
Possible explanations for ‘Happy as Larry’:
- New Zealand writer: "The phrase happy as Larry seems to have originated as either Australian or New Zealand slang sometime before 1875… …Oxford Dictionary of New Zealand English, has traced it to a New Zealand writer named G L Meredith, who wrote in about 1875: “We would be as happy as Larry if it were not for the rats”" (source). Rats aside, no-one seems to know why this Larry was happy.
- Australian Boxer: The above site also suggests the phrase may also be due to an Australian bare-knuckle boxer (Larry Foley, 1847-1917) introducing boxing gloves to Australia. Pressumably happy to protect his, and other boxers’ hands.
- Old English: The above site also suggests a link to an old English word "larrie" meaning joking, jesting, a practical joke. This fits well with two other potentially colloquial phrases that I use ‘larking around" and ‘larking about’. The Oxford English Dictionary calls larking out as a variant on "Larry’s Kin". It still doesn’t tell us who ‘Larry’ is.
- Latin Laurels: Larry could be derived from the Latin ‘laurus’ (Laurel). In name form meaning "Crowned with Laurels" (Source). Where receiving a crown of Laurels is an honour like being awarded a prize. This makes sense to me since the phrase ‘happy as Larry’ implies very happy like you would be after having been given a honour. The ‘Crown of thorns’ the Roman’s made Christ wear while carrying his cross was probably a reference to their meaning of a Laurel crown.
- Saint: One site suggests that the St. of this name had less reason to be happy "Saint Laurence was a 3rd-century deacon and martyr from Rome. According to tradition he was roasted alive on a gridiron because, when ordered to hand over the church’s treasures, he presented the sick and poor." (Source).
- Lazarus: Another site suggests that ‘Larry’ may have been Lazurus, pleased about having been raised from the dead "some speculate that the Larry here is Lazarus, who was supposedly raised from the dead–and who, one assumes, would have been very happy indeed.)" (
source).
Given the number of potentially Christian sources I should add this phrase to my ‘don’t use for sensitivity reasons" list.
Wendy larking-around-a-bit
write the first thought on “Happy as Larry”
