More things I would like to know

Pardon the lack of posting this week - we're gearing up (and by "we," I mean "me")for our biggest event of the year, which is on the 23rd. Between that, my new tattoo, and some sunshine after a really long winter (there are still bare trees here, and until 2 weeks ago it was still getting down into the 30s at night), my brain is, shall we say, mushy. (By the way, here's proof that there is spring here - I took this picture last weekend out in the Columbia River Gorge.)

However, this doesn't mean there haven't been things I want to blog about - including questions about where some expressions come from.

Expression # 1: "Happy as a clam."
Um, what? Are clams happier than other animals? I mean, they get cooked, split open and scraped out, then eaten. Or am I missing something?

Expression # 2: "You're telling me."
No, really? Was that a trick question?

Expression # 3: "Safe as houses."
Last time I checked, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, mudslides and other natural disasters could make houses very unsafe!

Expression # 4: "Snug as a bug in a rug."
Really. You tell me.

Expression # 5: "Drunk as a skunk"
Yes, it rhymes. But are they out there having margaritas after work?

In closing, my great-grandmother (who lived to be 99, and died my junior year in high school) always used to say, among other things, "Haste makes waste," and "Talk is cheap." We did not find out until several years after her death that to a select few, she followed that last expression with "It takes money to buy good whisky!"