An 1823 dictionary describes a sandboy as an urchin who sold sand in the streets, and according to the same source the expression jolly as a sandboy was already proverbial by that date for ‘a merry fellow who has tasted a drop’. A common British version of the phrase is happy as Larry , Larry being a pet name for Lawrence . This saying is sometimes connected with the renowned boxer Larry Foley ( 1847–1917 ); on the other hand, it may owe something to larry , a dialect word used by Thomas Hardy , meaning ‘a state of excitement’. The North American version is happy as a clam , which apparently originated in the early 19th century on the east coast, where clams are plentiful: the full version happy as a clam at high water explains the source of the clam's satisfaction.