[Ads-l] the bee's knees (1920) (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mark Mandel]

Along with "the cat's pajamas", which also means "something very good". Do
you know where that idiom came from, and whether the other two were ever in
use? All four phrases refer to non-existent or impossible things, with the
possible exception of "the bee's knees".

Mark

On Fri, Oct 19, 2018, 5:02 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM
AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> >
> > Even earlier that year, in the Feb. 8, 1920 issue of the St. Louis
> Post-Dispatch, there are references to a vaudeville show called "The Bee's
> > Knees" (presented by Joe Laurie, Jr.), but there's no indication of
> whether the show used it in the superlative sense or for some other
> > fanciful purpose.
> >
> > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24668442/the_bees_knees/
> > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24668460/the_bees_knees/
> >
>
> This quote from _The Sphinx_, a conjuring journal, is possibly playing off
> the vaudeville show's title, and also seems to be using the phrase in the
> superlative sense.
>
> _The Sphinx_ Aug 1923 p 182 [display advertisement, selling a pre-written
> vaudeville act]
>
> "The Big Brother to ''A Vaudeville Magic Act." Many have told me that the
> latter was "The Bee's Knees," but when you read another VAUDEVILLE MAGIC
> ACT you will agree that it is "The Cat's Pajamas," "The Tadpole's Eyebrows"
> and "The Canary's Knuckles,"all rolled into one."
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org