Where does the phrase "The bee's knees" come from?
The phrase, like 'the cat's pajamas', has given its name to a cocktail made from gin and honey with lemon and orange juice.
A cocktail made from gin and honey with lemon and orange juice is called 'the cat's pajamas'.
The 18th century fanciful phrase 'the bee's knees' refers to something that doesn't exist.The kind of spoof item apprentices would be sent to the stores for was like a left-handed hammer or tartan paint.In the 20th century, bright young things invented nonsense language to refer to things that were the tops, like 'the cat's pajamas'.The expression has since spread and is now used worldwide to mean 'excellent/the very best'. What is the origin of the phrase 'The bee's knees'?It's difficult to know if we need an etymologist or an entomologist for this one. I suppose the first question would be "Do bees have knees?".Yes, they do.Not like your knees.The legs of bees are connected by a joint.What better name for these joints than knee?Bee's carry pollen back to the hive in sacs on their legs.There is no evidence to support the idea that the bee's knees are made of concentrated goodness.There is no evidence to support the idea that it is a corruption of business.This was used as a synonym for smallness in the 18th century, but has since disappeared from the language.It can't be as big as a bee's knee.The bee's knees.How much sense is there?The use of 'bee's knees' began in the early 20th century.The kind of thing that a naive apprentice would be sent to the stores to ask for, like a'sky-hook' or'striped paint', was just a nonsense expression.There are comic American newspaper stories from the period where guests at a meal spent the evening sewing buttons on ice-cream and eating bee's knees. That 'non-existent' meaning is apparent in a spoof report in the New Zealand newspaper The West Coast Times in August 1906.Zane Grey's 1909 story, The Shortstop, has a city slicker teasing a yokel by questioning him about make-believe farm products.Wal, dog-gone me!Our ham trees are powerful over in Indianer.How about the bee's knees?Do you have any bee's knees this spring?"This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way."Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
Bright young things invented nonsense language to refer to things that were the tops, like 'the cat's pajamas' and so on.The expression has since spread and is now used worldwide to mean 'excellent/the very best'. What is the origin of the phrase 'The bee's knees'?It's difficult to know if we need an etymologist or an entomologist for this one. I suppose the first question would be "Do bees have knees?".Yes, they do.Not like your knees.The legs of bees are connected by a joint.What better name for these joints than knee?Bee's carry pollen back to the hive in sacs on their legs.There is no evidence to support the idea that the bee's knees are made of concentrated goodness.There is no evidence to support the idea that it is a corruption of business.This was used as a synonym for smallness in the 18th century, but has since disappeared from the language.It can't be as big as a bee's knee.The bee's knees.How much sense is there?The use of 'bee's knees' began in the early 20th century.The kind of thing that a naive apprentice would be sent to the stores to ask for, like a'sky-hook' or'striped paint', was just a nonsense expression.There are comic American newspaper stories from the period where guests at a meal spent the evening sewing buttons on ice-cream and eating bee's knees. That 'non-existent' meaning is apparent in a spoof report in the New Zealand newspaper The West Coast Times in August 1906.Zane Grey's 1909 story, The Shortstop, has a city slicker teasing a yokel by questioning him about make-believe farm products.Wal, dog-gone me!Our ham trees are powerful over in Indianer.How about the bee's knees?Do you have any bee's knees this spring?"This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way."Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
It's difficult to know if we need an etymologist or an entomologist for this one. I suppose the first question would be "Do bees have knees?".Yes, they do.Not like your knees.The legs of bees are connected by a joint.What better name for these joints than knee?Bee's carry pollen back to the hive in sacs on their legs.There is no evidence to support the idea that the bee's knees are made of concentrated goodness.There is no evidence to support the idea that it is a corruption of business.This was used as a synonym for smallness in the 18th century, but has since disappeared from the language.It can't be as big as a bee's knee.The bee's knees.How much sense is there?The use of 'bee's knees' began in the early 20th century.The kind of thing that a naive apprentice would be sent to the stores to ask for, like a'sky-hook' or'striped paint', was just a nonsense expression.There are comic American newspaper stories from the period where guests at a meal spent the evening sewing buttons on ice-cream and eating bee's knees. That 'non-existent' meaning is apparent in a spoof report in the New Zealand newspaper The West Coast Times in August 1906.Zane Grey's 1909 story, The Shortstop, has a city slicker teasing a yokel by questioning him about make-believe farm products.Wal, dog-gone me!Our ham trees are powerful over in Indianer.How about the bee's knees?Do you have any bee's knees this spring?"This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way."Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
I think the first question would be "Do bees have knees?".Yes, they do.Not like your knees.The legs of bees are connected by a joint.What better name for these joints than knee?Bee's carry pollen back to the hive in sacs on their legs.There is no evidence to support the idea that the bee's knees are made of concentrated goodness.There is no evidence to support the idea that it is a corruption of business.This was used as a synonym for smallness in the 18th century, but has since disappeared from the language.It can't be as big as a bee's knee.The bee's knees.How much sense is there?The use of 'bee's knees' began in the early 20th century.The kind of thing that a naive apprentice would be sent to the stores to ask for, like a'sky-hook' or'striped paint', was just a nonsense expression.There are comic American newspaper stories from the period where guests at a meal spent the evening sewing buttons on ice-cream and eating bee's knees. That 'non-existent' meaning is apparent in a spoof report in the New Zealand newspaper The West Coast Times in August 1906.Zane Grey's 1909 story, The Shortstop, has a city slicker teasing a yokel by questioning him about make-believe farm products.Wal, dog-gone me!Our ham trees are powerful over in Indianer.How about the bee's knees?Do you have any bee's knees this spring?"This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way."Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
The bees have sacs on their legs.There is no evidence to support the idea that the bee's knees are made of concentrated goodness.There is no evidence to support the idea that it is a corruption of business.This was used as a synonym for smallness in the 18th century, but has since disappeared from the language.It can't be as big as a bee's knee.The bee's knees.How much sense is there?The use of 'bee's knees' began in the early 20th century.The kind of thing that a naive apprentice would be sent to the stores to ask for, like a'sky-hook' or'striped paint', was just a nonsense expression.There are comic American newspaper stories from the period where guests at a meal spent the evening sewing buttons on ice-cream and eating bee's knees. That 'non-existent' meaning is apparent in a spoof report in the New Zealand newspaper The West Coast Times in August 1906.Zane Grey's 1909 story, The Shortstop, has a city slicker teasing a yokel by questioning him about make-believe farm products.Wal, dog-gone me!Our ham trees are powerful over in Indianer.How about the bee's knees?Do you have any bee's knees this spring?"This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way."Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
There is no connection between 'a bee's knee' and the earlier phrase.This was used as a synonym for smallness in the 18th century, but has since disappeared from the language.It can't be as big as a bee's knee.The bee's knees.How much sense is there?The use of 'bee's knees' began in the early 20th century.The kind of thing that a naive apprentice would be sent to the stores to ask for, like a'sky-hook' or'striped paint', was just a nonsense expression.There are comic American newspaper stories from the period where guests at a meal spent the evening sewing buttons on ice-cream and eating bee's knees. That 'non-existent' meaning is apparent in a spoof report in the New Zealand newspaper The West Coast Times in August 1906.Zane Grey's 1909 story, The Shortstop, has a city slicker teasing a yokel by questioning him about make-believe farm products.Wal, dog-gone me!Our ham trees are powerful over in Indianer.How about the bee's knees?Do you have any bee's knees this spring?"This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way."Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
The use of 'bee's knees' began in the early 20th century.The kind of thing that a naive apprentice would be sent to the stores to ask for, like a'sky-hook' or'striped paint', was just a nonsense expression.There are comic American newspaper stories from the period where guests at a meal spent the evening sewing buttons on ice-cream and eating bee's knees. That 'non-existent' meaning is apparent in a spoof report in the New Zealand newspaper The West Coast Times in August 1906.Zane Grey's 1909 story, The Shortstop, has a city slicker teasing a yokel by questioning him about make-believe farm products.Wal, dog-gone me!Our ham trees are powerful over in Indianer.How about the bee's knees?Do you have any bee's knees this spring?"This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way."Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
That 'non-existent' meaning is apparent in a spoof report in the New Zealand newspaper The West Coast Times in August 1906, which listed the cargo carried by the Zealandia as a quantity of post holes, 3 bags of treacle and 7 cases of bees' knees.Zane Grey's 1909 story, The Shortstop, has a city slicker teasing a yokel by questioning him about make-believe farm products.Wal, dog-gone me!Our ham trees are powerful over in Indianer.How about the bee's knees?Do you have any bee's knees this spring?"This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way."Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
The teasing was not limited to the southern hemisphere.Zane Grey's 1909 story, The Shortstop, has a city slicker teasing a yokel by questioning him about make-believe farm products.Wal, dog-gone me!Our ham trees are powerful over in Indianer.How about the bee's knees?Do you have any bee's knees this spring?"This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way."Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
How's the ham trees?Wal, dog-gone me!Our ham trees are powerful over in Indianer.How about the bee's knees?Is there any bee's knees this spring?
The term "Mr Skygack" was used in an odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel.Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
I adopted Mr Skygack and I suppose I will feed him.Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
I adopted Mr Skygack and I suppose I will feed him.Does he eat?He likes bees' knees.What about bees' knees?He is fond of them.I have to catch some bees.Diss looks like a bee.There is no reason to relate to bees and knees other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The nonsense expression "the bee's knees" was added to the list of excellent phrases.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
There is no reason for bees and knees to be related other than the rhyme of 'bees' and'knees'.In the 1920s, it was fashionable to use nonsense terms such as 'the snake's hips'.The bee's knees and cats whiskers are the only ones that have lasted the test of time.
The first use of the expression in print with the "excellent" meaning that I can find is from the US newspaper The Buffalo Times.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
The first use of the expression "excellent" in print was in the February 1922 edition of The Buffalo Times.I saw a princess once and it only cost me a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.The 'Flapper Dictionary' headings were featured in several U.S. newspapers.Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage.The Charleston was popularised by Ms. Jackson in 1920s New York and was credited with introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924.It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
I've seen a princess and it's only a dime.Princess Fatima was the bee's knees when it came to dancing.