Summary of responses to "Origin of BEES KNEES"

[John Savage]

A month or so back I wrote:-

>Subject: Where did the term "BEES KNEES" come from?

>I am trying to discover the origin of the term "the bee's knees". It might
>not even be spelt as it is pronounced.

>Usage is where it could be replaced by "acme", or "ultimate", e.g., "This
>Internet newsgroup is the bee's knees in communication networks."

I have been delighted with the response, and herewith quote snippets from
a couple as representative of those received. Many thanks to all.

+ + +

From Lee Rizor (lee....@ledge.com):-

Partridge has this:

bee's knees, the. The acme of perfection, beauty,
attractiveness, skill, desirability, etc.: from
ca. 1930. In 1939 I heard a girl described as `a
screamer, a smasher, a--oh! the bee's knees'. Cf.
/the cat's pyjamas/.

No mention is made of its geographic origin, but /the cat's pyjamas/ is
tagged as "American (-1920), anglicised by 1923."

From Mark Israel (mis...@csi.uottawa.ca):-

I think the idea is that on a bee, knees are strictly a luxury.
The phrase originated in 1920s U.S. slang, which had a whole slue of
such phrases: "the eel's ankle", "the flea's eyebrows", "the clam's
garter", "the snake's hips", "the elephant's instep", "the kipper's
knickers", "the cat's pyjamas", "the canary's tusks", "the sardine's
whiskers". The fact that "the bee's knees" rhymes may have assisted
its survival.

The only sensible one was "the cat's whiskers", which may reflect
the importance of these in tuning 1920s radio crystal sets. See the
book _I Hear America Talking_, by Stuart Berg Flexner.
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