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

[Jonathan Lighter]

HDAS has "bee's knees," "snake's hips," "cat's pajamas," "cat's whiskers,"
"cat's meow," "cat's nuts," and simply "the cats," all (except for the
ribald "cat's nuts") in use in the 1920's - and (except for "snake's hips")
since.

A handful of probably unique coinages like "the gnat's knee-knuckles" are
also findable.

JL

On Sat, Oct 20, 2018 at 3:22 AM Mark Mandel <mark.a.mandel at gmail.com> wrote:

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


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