Friday Quiz ~ Bee's Knees

So what does bee's knees mean?

In the 18th century a bee’s knee was used as a synonym for smallness and by the early 20^th century America Bee’s knees began to be become a popular saying.  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'.

By the 1920s it was fashionable to use nonsense terms to denote excellence - 'the snake's hips', 'the kipper's knickers', 'the cat's pajamas/whiskers', 'the monkey's eyebrows' and so on. Of these, the bee's knees and the cat's whiskers are the only ones to have stood the test of time.

In the 1920’s there was also something called a Flapper Dictionary.  If featured sayings like:

Kluck - dumb person

Dumb kluck - worse than a kluck

Pollywoppus - meaningless stuff

Fly-paper - a guy who sticks around

Flatwheeler - A young man who takes a young lady to an egg harbor

Egg Harbor - A fall dance

Oilcan -  Imposter

Pillowcase  - Young man who is full of feathers

Feathers - Small talk

and lastly on my list...

Cake-Eater - A wearer of tight clothes, belted coat with spear like lapels and one button, sausage trousers, low quick fitting collar, greenish pink shirt; and one of those jazzbo ties that gives you the giggles.

It is fun to compare these terms to the pop culture words of the 21^st century.

What do you or your kids say that could be added to a dictionary for the language of the era?

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