What does the cliche "It's the bee's knees" actually mean?

Question

So when you say something is the bee's knees, it means its really good or something along those lines. But literally what does it mean and where did the saying come from?

Answer 1

It’s one of a set of nonsense catchphrases that originated in North America in the 1920s, the period of the flappers, nearly all of which compared some thing of excellent quality to a part of an animal. You might at that period have heard such curious concoctions as cat’s miaow, elephant’s adenoids, bullfrog’s beard, gnat’s elbows, monkey’s eyebrows, cat’s whiskers, and dozens of others. Only a very few have survived, of which bee’s knees is perhaps the best known, though cat’s pyjamas (an exception to the anatomical rule) also survives.

Answer 2

Bees Knees Meaning

Answer 3

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RE:
What does the cliche "It's the bee's knees" actually mean?
So when you say something is the bee's knees, it means its really good or something along those lines. But literally what does it mean and where did the saying come from?

Answer 4

A bee's "corbiculae", or pollen-baskets, are located on its
tibiae (midsegments of its legs). The phrase "the bee's knees",
meaning "the height of excellence", became popular in the U.S. in
the 1920s, along with "the cat's whiskers" (possibly from the use
of these in radio crystal sets), "the cat's pajamas" (pyjamas were
still new enough to be daring), and similar phrases which made less sense and didn't endure: "the eel's ankle", "the elephant's instep", "the snake's hip".

Stories in circulation about the phrase's origin include: "b's and e's", short for "be-alls and end-alls"; and a corruption of "business".

Answer 5

We haven't had the birds and the bees talk yet, but my parents pointed at pictures in the dictionary and said, "this goes in here, and that's how you get a girl pregnant".

Answer 6

Bees "pollen sacs" are actually located on their knees. So, the way they carry pollen from one flower to another and actually help flowers propagate is through the pollen they carry on their knees. Different pollens also effect the taste of the honey they make. Thus, the great achievements bees are capable of all come down to their little knees.

Answer 7

I'll agree it's from the 20's, not satisfied with etymology response but may be something like late '40s outlandish, just said in ryhme because it does. Does slang always make sense?

Answer 8

It's an old slang from the 1920's.

Answer 9

Probably made up by a stoned jazz musician. Doesn't really mean anything but kinda sounds cool and rhymes.

Answer 10

it means its cool