APAD: It's the bee's knees
Meaning:
It is the height of excellence
Background:
"The bee's knees" apparently came into use during the 1920s when the flappers
compared almost anything they considered excellent to a part of an animal. It
seems that American cartoonist Tad Dorgan is responsible for this particular
expression; and also for "the cat's pajamas", and possibly for "hot dog". He
also coined a number of other expressions that didn't stick such as "the
canary's tusks" and "the flea's eyebrows". Other superlatives from the period
include "the sardine's whiskers", "the eel's ankle" and "the clam's garter".
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Phrases like this make no horse sense,
To an ESL from an oriental province.
He racked his brains to conceptualize,
A bee's knee's average size,
And how the joints achieved excellence!
The first time I recall meeting this phrase is in Doc Martin Season 2 after
the doc successuflly treated Ms. Muriel Steel with simply adequate hydration.
Doc Martin: Oh, you look much better.
Ms. Steel: Well, I suppose you think you're the bee's knees.
Doc Martin: No. I don't. Let's see your ankle. Oh, the swelling's gone down
considerably. Good.
Ms. Steel: Prescribe a glass of water and, suddenly, you are cat's whiskers.
