# Cat's pajamas. Huh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-pajamas-huh/205536 "2003-10-04T11:47:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aka\_10003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@aka\_10003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aka_10003)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-pajamas-huh/205536/1 "2003-10-04T11:47:35Z")
How did Cat’s Pajamas become a term for excellence? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-pajamas-huh/205536/2 "2003-10-04T14:51:01Z")
[This site](http://www.yaelf.com/questions.shtml), in its hypothesis on “the bee’s knees”, says: > [@](#): > > 1. 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.” Dorgan also came up with: “Yes, we have no bananas.” > > [snip] > > 1. 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”. [This site](http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/phrases.htm) says: > [@](#): > > **Cat’s pajamas / Cat’s meow / Cat’s whiskers** - \*Something considered to be outstanding]/i] > Coined by American cartoonist Thomas a. Dorgan (1877-1929) whose work appears in many American newspapers. [Here is another site](http://www.wordwithyou.com/columns/5_21_99.gif%22%5B/url) (actually, a .gif) that says: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > … [E]xcellence took a novel turn with the introduction of pajamas as nighttime attire. Considered both the height of fashion and somewhat risqué, they became very special during the twenties as **the cat’s pajamas**. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-pajamas-huh/205536/3 "2003-10-04T14:52:27Z")
Poster is caffeine impaired. :smack: [Here is another site…](http://www.wordwithyou.com/columns/5_21_99.gif) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-pajamas-huh/205536/4 "2003-10-05T20:04:08Z")
Thomas Dorgan did NOT coin the term “cat’s pajamas” or any other cat term. Nor did he coin the term hot dog. The “cat’s pajamas” appears in “flapper” lingo in 1922. As the unreliable site “A Word With You” says, it was just a phrase which had to do with multiple “cat’s” things. A nonsense phrase. As a general precaution, do NOT use that site as a source. They have too much unreliable info. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-pajamas-huh/205536/5 "2003-10-06T00:59:50Z")
This is more of a GQ type of question, so I’m moving this to General Questions.