Cute as Bee’s Knees

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Linda calling from Solana Beach, California.

Hello, Linda, lovely Solana Beach.

Well, about a month ago, my daughter Katie was home from college from the University of Michigan, and she was telling me a story about one of her friends. And she happened to mention that this girl was a, the bee’s knees.

And I hesitated for a moment and wasn’t sure what she was referring to. So I said, well, what does that mean? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

And she proceeded to tell me that it means she’s like all that or really cool or awesome. So as I was thinking about it, I was thinking you might be the two sources that would tell me where this phrase comes from because I’ve never heard it before.

My daughter claims it’s a very old expression, but I was just wondering why being a bee’s knees would be something great. And the fact that she’s at a Midwestern school, I thought, well, maybe it’s a Midwestern phrase. Do her friends use it?

You know, she seemed to think it was a pretty common phrase. And like I said, I’ve never heard it before, so I’m thinking they must. She wasn’t sure where she first heard it.

Oh, that’s too bad. That was my next question.

Yeah. And so what school is she attending?

The University of Michigan.

Michigan, okay.

Really interesting stuff. It’s so funny that this term should skip a couple generations. This probably comes from her grandparents’ era, the 1920s.

Yeah.

I’m kind of shocked to hear that a young person is using it unironically to mean what it meant 90 years ago. And telling her mom about it.

Yeah.

That’s crazy.

That’s great.

And telling her mom about it. And her mom didn’t know. But that’s really, it’s so rare to see a slang term come back into vogue genuinely, not being used with any kind of facetiousness or irony.

Oh, I hope it is. I use it all the time.

So this was something that came out of the flapper era. I don’t know if it was originally used in a kind of show-offy way, but it definitely became prominent.

It’s listed in all the slang guides ever since. It does not drop out of slang books. But to get to the bottom of the bee’s knees, why are we talking about something good in relationship to bee’s knees?

There’s an old meaning of the word cute, C-U-T-E, which meant small and nicely formed. And bees’ knees are small and nicely formed, and they are perfect in that way.

And you could talk about the bees’ knees as being the epitome of insect knees, and therefore they became generalized to mean excellent or great or good. Right? See how this goes?

And it rhymes. It’s evocative, easy to say, easy to remember. It’s all the hallmarks of a successful phrase.

Your daughter is plugged into a large stream of slang that dates back 90 years.

That’s right.

She is hip and cool.

And she is introducing you to her grandparents or even her great-grandparents’ generation.

I don’t know how old she is, but there you go.

Actually, she’s quite young, 19, so I’m surprised to hear it’s an old expression.

Yeah.

You both are the bees and knees, and I so appreciate you taking my call today.

Oh, thank you.

Well, it’s our pleasure.

Anytime we get a chance to goof off with people from Solana Beach, we take it.

That’s right.

Grant’s the three knees on the left, and I’m the three knees on the right.

Thanks a lot, Linda.

Thanks for calling, Linda.

Thank you.

Take care.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

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