Fifty years ago, on May 10, 1972, our world-famous Safari Park opened its gates to the public. A half century later, 2 million people annually visit the park, which exhibits more than 3,500 animals representing more than 400 species. To celebrate this milestone, I offer some examples of bestial adjective-as-a-noun expressions and a game.

We call somebody happy as a clam without having any idea of what’s so happy about clams. Digging into this particular cliché, the whimsical poet Ogden Nash once composed this little ditty:

The clam, esteemed by gourmets highly
 Is said to live the life of Riley.
 When you are lolling on a piazza,
 It’s what you are as happy as a.

Why should this helpless bivalve — captive in its shell until pried open and steamed, baked, minced, stuffed, and casinoed by humans — be happy? As it turns out, happy as a clam is only half the original saying. The full simile is “happy as a clam at high tide.” A clam at high tide is quite sensibly happy because, at that time, the mud flat in which it buries itself is safe from human invasion.

You may also wonder why people say naked as a jaybird when jaybirds are festooned with feathers. Here’s the first printed citation (1893) of naked as a jaybird: “He will have the humbug qualifications of a cow-boy stripped from his poor worthless carcass so quickly that he would feel like a jay bird with his tail feathers gone.” Turns out, therefore, that a jaybird is naked only when its nether plumage has gone missing.

Because animals can’t hire public relations agents, they often get bum raps in many of our common similes:

Blind as a bat. Actually, bats aren’t blind. Some, flying at night, use echolocation, a form of natural sonar, to find their prey, but they can also see. Others, such as fruit bats, fly in the daytime, using their sharp eyes to get around.

Slimy as a snake. Although a snake’s scales are shiny and may appear slimy, the reptile’s body is dry to the touch. A few amphibians, such as some frogs and salamanders, are slimy, but snakes aren’t.

May you be happy as a clam and proud as a peacock when you review the adjective-as-a-noun clichés that follow. Celebrating the golden anniversary of Safari Park, complete these familiar comparisons by identifying animals.

1. bald as	13. free as	25. quiet as
2. big as	14. gentle as	26. red as
3. brave as	15. hairy as	27. scarce as
4. busy as	16. happy as	28. sick as
5. clumsy as	17. hungry as	29. slippery as
6. crazy as	18. loose/silly as	30. sly as
7. cross as	19. mad as	31. snug as
8. cute as	20. nervous as	32. strong as
9. dead as	21. plump as	33. stubborn as
10. drunk as	22. poor as	34. tight as
11. dumb as	23. prickly as	35. wise as
12. fat as	24. quick as

Answers

1. a coot/an eagle 2. an elephant 3. lion 4. a beaver / a bee 5. an ox 6.a bedbug / a coot / a loon 7. a bear 8. a bug’s ear 9. a dodo 10. a skunk 11. an ox 12. a pig 13. a bird 14. a lamb 15. an ape 16. a lark/clam/a pig in spit 17. a wolf 18. a goose 19. a hornet/a wet hen/a March hare 20. a kitten 21.a partridge 22. a church mouse 23. a porcupine 24. a cat 25. a mouse 26. a lobster 27. hens’ teeth 27. a dog 29. an eel 30. a fox 31. a bug in a rug 32. a bull / an ox 33. a mule 34. a tick 35. an owl

Recognizing the 3,500 plant species that beautify the 1,800 acres of Safari Park, complete the following by identifying things found in nature:

1. bright as	8. gentle as	15. right as
2. clear as	9. good as	16. solid as
3. cold as	10. green as	17. sturdy as
4. deep as	11. hard as	18. tall as
5. easy as	12. light as	19. white as
6. fast as	13. old as	20. wide as
7. fresh as	14. pure as

Answers

1. the sun 2. mud 3. ice 4. the ocean 5. falling off a log (greased) lightning 7. a daisy 8. a breeze 9. gold 10. grass a diamond/rock 12. air/a feather 13. the hills/dirt 14. the driven snow 15. rain a rock/the Rock of Gibraltar 17. an oak 18. a tree 19. snow 20. the ocean/the sky

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DEAR RICHARD: The word swims upside down is still swims. Are there other such words? –Diana Glimm, Solana Beach

Upside-down words like swims, which read the same rightside up and upside down, are called ambigrams. ZOONOOZ, until recently the name of our San Diego Zoological Society magazine, is one example, along with dip/dollop/mow/NOON/pod/SIS/swims/suns.