September 28, 20169 yr Plum Crazy? Or is it Plumb Crazy? Either way, not getting it. Maybe a regional thing as well. Plumb. Deals with a plumb bob and means "absolute."
September 28, 20169 yr On the Bee's Knees.... Ever wondered why we say this most odd expression: the bee’s knees? It all started with another expression, still used today. The expression ‘the be-all and [the] end-all’, meaning chiefly ‘the central or most important element’ is (like ‘one fell swoop’) a quotation from Macbeth. Macbeth is contemplating killing Duncan: “..that but this blow/Might be the be-all and the end-all…/..We’d jump [ie risk] the life to come.” (Macbeth, I.vii.4ff) This passage is a well-known one, and the phrase the be-all and [the] end-all has been popular over the years. It is usually found without the second ‘the’. Though many people are aware that it is a Shakespearean allusion, it is not as common as, say, ‘to be or not to be’ and it is usually used without any special reference to Shakespeare. After years of use, ‘the be-all and [the] end-all’ became shortened to: the Bs and Es (the be-all and end-all), the Bs being the things which are all and the Es being those things which end all. As this was said, over time (if you repeat this fast, you will see), it sounds like ‘the bee’s knees’. So, something which had nothing to do with the little insects is now lost from its original – but now… you know!
September 28, 20169 yr 14 Expressions with Crazy Origins that You Would Never Have Guessed | Grammarly Blog
September 28, 20169 yr The ones that my students do not understand is "pot calling the kettle black". I have to explain that one every time. I also have to explain that it is not racist.
September 28, 20169 yr And yet a completely different explanation of the phrase bees knees. I wonder how many different explainations there might be. The bee's knees - meaning and origin. 'Bee's knees' began to be used in early 20th century America. 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'. That meaning is apparent in a spoof report in the New Zealand newspaper The West Coast Times in August 1906, which listed the cargo carried by the SS Zealandia as 'a quantity of post holes, 3 bags of treacle and 7 cases of bees' knees'. The teasing wasn't restricted to the southern hemisphere. The US author Zane Grey's 1909 story, The Shortstop, has a city slicker teasing a yokel by questioning him about make-believe farm products: "How's yer ham trees? Wal, dog-gone me! Why, over in Indianer our ham trees is sproutin' powerful. An' how about the bee's knees? Got any bee's knees this Spring?" This odd cartoon from the May 5th 1914 edition of the Fort Wayne Sentinel uses the term in exactly the same way: the bee's knees [Text: Now dot I haf adopted Mr Skygack I suppose I haf to feed him. Vot does he eat? He likes bees' knees. Bees' knees? Yes, sure, he is very fond of them. Vell, I guess I got to catch some bees. Diss looks like a bee-hive.] There's no profound reason to relate bees and knees other than the jaunty-sounding rhyme. In the 1920s it was fashionable to use nonsense terms to denote excellence - 'the snake's hips', 'the kipper's knickers', 'the cat's pyjamas/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. More recently, we see the same thing - the 'dog's bollocks'. The nonsense expression 'the bee's knees' was taken up by the socialites of Roaring 20s America and added to the list of 'excellent' phrases. A printed reference in that context appears in the Ohio newspaper The Newark Advocate, April 1922, in a piece on newly coined phrases entitles 'What Does It Mean?': "That's what you wonder when you hear a flapper chatter in typical flapper language. 'Apple Knocker,' for instance. And 'Bees Knees.' That's flapper talk. This lingo will be explained in the woman's page under the head of Flapper Dictionary." [an 'apple knocker' is a rustic] Clearly the phrase must have been new then for the paper to plan to take the trouble to define it. Disappointingly, they didn't follow up on their promise and 'the lingo' wasn't subsequently explained. Several U.S. newspapers did feature lists of phrases under 'Flapper Dictionary' headings. Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage; for example, from one such Flapper Dictionary: Kluck - dumb person. Dumb kluck - worse than a kluck. Pollywoppus - meaningless stuff. Fly-paper - a guy who sticks around. Bee Jackson - One tenuous connection between the bee's knees and an actual bee relates to Bee Jackson. Ms. Jackson was a dancer in 1920s New York and popularised the Charleston, being credited by some as introducing the dance to Broadway in 1924. She went on to become the World Champion Charleston dancer and was quite celebrated at the time. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the expression became popular in reference to her and her very active knees, but 1924 post dates the origin of the phrase.
September 28, 20169 yr Plum Crazy? Or is it Plumb Crazy? Either way, not getting it. Maybe a regional thing as well.
September 28, 20169 yr Wow, wish I had one exactly like it. That makes two of us. I'd probably like the car too if it wasn't purple.
September 28, 20169 yr That makes two of us. I'd probably like the car too if it wasn't purple. It's not purple it's "plum crazy." So you're good.
September 28, 20169 yr It's not purple it's "plum crazy." So you're good. I would have agreed, but the all-knowing Clyde and his fancy Google machine tells me that should read "plumb crazy," and therefore is just purple car.
September 28, 20169 yr Author I would have agreed, but the all-knowing Clyde and his fancy Google machine tells me that should read "plumb crazy," and therefore is just purple car. The car and the blonde have likely depreciated over the years.
September 28, 20169 yr It's the mutually exclusive sayings that confuse me. Two heads are better than one. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Look before you leap. He who hesitates is lost. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE???
September 28, 20169 yr The car and the blonde have likely depreciated over the years. Depends on the mileage I guess... :idunno:
September 28, 20169 yr Author It's the mutually exclusive sayings that confuse me. Two heads are better than one. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Look before you leap. He who hesitates is lost. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE??? Crap or get off the pot.
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