# The Bee's Knee's

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bees-knees/60908>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 5, 2001, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bees-knees/60908 "2001-04-05T12:15:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![swampy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@swampy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampy)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bees-knees/60908/1 "2001-04-05T12:15:01Z")

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Does anyone know where the term “The Bee’s Knee’s” came from. it is not that important but I would like to know.

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**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bees-knees/60908/2 "2001-04-05T13:20:28Z")

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From [this site](http://www.takeourword.com/Issue097.html)

> [@](#):
>
> What the heck does bees knees mean, and what is its origin? I’ve seen people suggest that the correct for is b’s and e’s. Which is right?
> 
> Oh, dear, isn’t this interesting! Folk etymology right before our very eyes. No, it never was and never should be b’s and e’s. First of all, what are these b’s and e’s, anyhow? It is bees knees. If you’ve ever seen a bee, then you know how tiny its knees must be(e). That’s what the term first referred to - anything small or insignificant. It first appears in writing at the end of the 18th century in a letter: “It cannot be as big as a bee’s knee” (1797). And, as we mentioned earlier in this column, it is not all that uncommon for slang expressions like that to have a complete reverse of meaning, such that by the early 20th century, bee’s knees meant “excellent”.

Fran

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**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bees-knees/60908/3 "2001-04-05T13:38:37Z")

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There was also a fad in the 1920s for affectionate nicknames: the cat’s pajamas, the bee’s knees, etc. I shall quote, if I may, from the novelty song “Sheba, Please Be Mine”—

I think you’re the tadpole’s tonsils.  
Sheba, please be mine.  
Hear me speak  
Make me your sheik  
Your comic valentine.  
You know you’re the bullfrog’s freckles  
Be my clinging vine  
When your black eyes flash  
You’re the cat’s moustache  
And you know that’s fine.  
You’re to me like poison ivy  
When our arms entwine.  
My thoughts crash  
I get a rash  
And chills run up my spine.  
Spring, oh spring, will soon be here  
Sheba, won’t you cuddle near?  
Tell me I’m the mountain’s ear  
Sheba, please be mine.

I think you’re the goat’s galoshes  
Sheba, please be mine.  
Honest, true, a turtle’s tooth  
Can not compare with thine.  
You know you’re the eel’s eyelashes  
Of my heart you’re queen.  
Sure as you are born,  
The canary’s corn  
Oh you pretty dream!  
Like my arches, I have fallen  
For you Sheba mine.  
Don’t say no  
Or I will go  
And lead a life of crime.  
You will have your self to thank  
If your sheik to jail they yank  
I’m gonna rob the baby’s bank  
Sheba, please be mine.

How I love your tiny feet  
Though they are number nine.  
How I love your little nose  
Although it shines and shines.  
And I love your pearly teeth  
Although there’s only two.  
Thank the Lord they meet  
Or you couldn’t eat  
Then what would you do?  
Gee, I like the brand of warpaint  
I taste on your lips.  
And it’s great the way you shake  
And shimmy with your hips.  
But I like your eyes the best,  
They’re so different from the rest;  
One looks east and one looks west.  
Sheba, please be mine.