T-learning # Idiom
Speak Like a Native

happy as Larry

Choose the correct definition a, b or c.

a) not happy at all

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.

b) a little bit happy

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.

c) very happy

Well done ! That’s the right answer.

If someone is as happy as Larry they are extremely happy. The question is, who is Larry ?!

French translation

être enchanté, ravi, très content

How NOT to translate : *content comme Larry

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Examples in context

‘Simon Hamilton : ’£68m to be lost from NI health budget’

Simon Hamilton said, on BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show, if the cuts were not implemented, the health minister would have to save £68m this year.
Westminster passed the controversial welfare reforms in February 2013. The party’s Alex Maskey said the cuts to Northern Ireland departments did not need to happen.
"If the major party is saying to the government ’we think we’ve got a great package, we’re as happy as Larry, then why would the British government concede anything else to you’," he said.’

BBC Northern Ireland, 1st April 2014

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‘Runaway rhea thought to be bunkered in Hertfordshire golf course

Flightless bird, which can run at up to 40mph, sighted near Royston a month after escaping from owner’s home
The hunt for a runaway South American rhea that went missing from its owner’s home more than a month ago is now focused on a golf course about five miles away.
After reported other sightings, including in the villages of Nuthampstead and Anstey, as well as in local rape fields, the three-year-old female rhea has apparently been "wandering about, happy as Larry " at the course, according to greenkeeper Carl Edwards, who saw it for the first time on Wednesday.’

The Guardian, 17 April 2014

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Everyday usage

You’re as happy as Larry since you found out that piece of news !

We would be as happy as Larry in this house if it were not for the ants.


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