Hi arthurd,
H W Orsman, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of New Zealand English,
has traced the earliest appearance of this slang term in 1875 to a New
Zealand writer named G L Meredith:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-lar1.htm
The saying is said to have originated in Australia or New Zealand and
refers to Australian Boxer, Larry Foley (1847-1917).
The Answer Bank
Who was Larry, and why was he happy?
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Phrases_and_Sayings/Question2434.html
Other sources dispute the Larry Foley connection, and link the saying
with the word larrikin:
"Far more likely is the suggestion that it comes from an English
dialect word *larrie* meaning to joke. A possible link with Australia
and New Zealand is the word *larrikin* a street rowdy or young urban
hooligan, recorded in both
those countries from the 1860s. The word may well have come from the
English dialect *larrikin* for a mischievous youth, once common in
Worcestershire and
Warwickshire and closely related to *larrie*."
from: http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/sayingsh.htm
However you look at it though, it appears that Larry was very happy.
Hope that helps!
* j * |
