There's no profound reason to relate bees and knees other than the jaunty-sounding rhyme of 'bees' and 'knees'. The first use of the expression in print with the "excellent" meaning that I can find is from the US newspaper The Buffalo Times, February 1922. If not, my apologies but please explain. this website uses cookies. Hint for rookies: the bee's knees is informal for something extra, excellent, outstanding. The teasing wasn't restricted to the southern hemisphere. This nonsensical phrase that was popular in the 1920s was, like “the cat's whiskers,” the equivalent of today's “really cool” or “it's amazing!” It went the way of such faddish expressions, which is to say, out. It's difficult to know if we need an etymologist or an entomologist for this one. We looked daft but at the time we thought we were, Skinny trousers do come with their own dangers and I have seen young gentlemen of girth wearing them thinking they look. Tom's new Cadillac is really the bee's knees! Very interesting! https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/the+bees+knees. It is also sometimes said to be a corruption of 'business', but there's no evidence to support that either. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Bees' knees? When bees flit from flower to flower the nectar sticks to their legs in sacs on their legs The phrase "bee's knees" means sweet and good, because the knees of the bee are where all the sweet, good stuff is collected; the allusion is to the concentrated goodness to be found around the bee's knee. I couldn't care less whether these knees or their owner are/is female or male. something that is the bee's knees certainly meant to be the be all and the end all. Signup to our newsletter "English in your Inbox" to receive your monthly fix of English by email. "It cannot be as big as a bee's knee.". I personally would like to believe that he did since at the time he was depicting a frankfurter in a bread roll sold by Harry Stevens, an English immigrant from my own home town of Derby. I think she's the bee's knees, and I don't care who knows it! This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way: [Text: Now dot I haf adopted Mr Skygack I suppose I haf to feed him. It was in a spoof account of the marriage of Princess Mary in London: "I seen a princess once and it only cost a dime. Vell, I guess I got to catch some bees. bee's knees has no relation to business in any context I've ever heard. (i.e. Brewer's says that the current meaning originated in the 1920's and may be connected to the fact that the bee's knees is where the valuable pollen is carried. If something is said to be the bee's knees it is excellent - the highest quality. 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. Nor is there any connection with another earlier phrase, 'a bee's knee'. What is the origin of the phrase ‘the bee’s knees’? So, something which had nothing to do with the little insects is now lost from its original – but now… you … Do you think I'm the cats pajamas? It was used as the kind of spoof item apprentices would be sent to the stores to fetch - like tartan paint or a left-handed hammer. There's no profound reason to relate bees and knees other than the jaunty-sounding rhyme of 'bees' and 'knees'. We know you will too. As questions are being asked about the knees (even though St.Johann doesn't care of) I'll tell what I know about knees of bees (even though I am nothing of an entomologist). All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. Have you ever tried the pistachio gelato at this place? Sadly I haven't yet found a definitive answer to the question I was originally attempting to research - do bees have "knees" at all? We think it is very special and impressive. The only thing that sounds reasonable is the B and E explanation... As you agree about only women being the bee's knees, you had had better headline your thread this way: I don't care the bees' knees. See also: knee. Some people believe that it is a reference to the fact that bees carry pollen in sacks on their knees, and that the expression therefore alludes to this concentrated goodness. The expression was coined in the 1920s by an American cartoonist named Tad Dorgan, who also graced the language with such corny superlatives as "the cat's pajamas" and less durable ones such as the "the flea's eyebrows" and - a real clunker - "the canary's tusks." I do possess a quiver full of everlasting arrows, possession the "RED. It all started with another expression, still used today. See other phrases that were coined in the USA. this being rather long, was shortened to "the B's and E's" which eventually became "the bee's knees". Bees carry pollen back to the hive in sacs on their legs. Beforehand that word means "that which is cut in pieces or engraved/segmented", hence "insect. You’re the Bee’s Knees Valentine’s Day Printable. When you refer to something as 'the bee's knees', it means that it is of excellent or very high quality. They utilized the existing 'bee's knees' phrase to add to that list. this sexual act requires one jar of honey. I'm growing angry for that and now I pick up my Bow, since I was Air Force and "1 shot is 1 kill!" the man then tit-fucks the woman to get as much honey on his penis as he desires. Initially, it was just a nonsense expression that denoted something that didn't have any meaningful existence - the kind of thing that a naive apprentice would be sent to the stores to ask for, like a 'sky-hook' or 'striped paint'. An' how about the bee's knees? Wal, dog-gone me! Of these, the bee's knees and the cat's whiskers are the only ones to have stood the test of time. 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 SS Zealandia as 'a quantity of post holes, 3 bags of treacle and 7 cases of bees' knees'. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. To be exceptionally great, excellent, or high-quality. As this was said, over time (if you repeat this fast, you will see), it sounds like ‘the bee’s knees’. :). This meaning is no longer used. Held in the 277-room property's cocktail bar, Appearing at Tameside Magistrates' Court on Thursday, Poole pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and being abusive to another during the brawl in the early hours of Saturday, October 7 at, And with Becks a fashion icon and Romeo, 13, a Burberry model, they sure looked, Costing PS1.40 for a portion weighing 450g on my in-car scales they looked like. One tenuous connection between the bee's knees and an actual bee relates to Bee Jackson. Vell, I guess I got to catch some bees. In the 18th century this was used as a synonym for smallness, but has since disappeared from the language: Mrs. Townley Ward - Letters, June 1797 in N. & Q. Is it proofreader, proof reader or proof-reader. I've long been puzzled why, to this day, the bee's knees expression has maintained a certain currency in Britain, something it has not had for decades in the United States. Flashback: The Boutique 1969: Did I really wear that? I also assumed it to mean 'the be all and end all' but who knows? What do you think is the bee's knees? Her name was Princess Fatima and I'll say she was the bee's knees when it come to dancing'.". I'm so crazy about the girl I've started seeing. adj. the bees knees phrase.
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