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

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sat Oct 20 12:43:47 UTC 2018


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
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
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