What's "The Bees Knees"?

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A popular expression is 'It's the bees knees' meaning its ideal, or the best. However although bees have legs with joints like any insect their joint have nothing like a knee cap therefore bees do not have knees as such.

"Bee's knees" is actually one of a set of nonsense and short-lived, frivolous slang catchphrases from 1920s America. Some of the (rightly) forgotten examples are "snake's hips", "kipper's knickers", "elephant's manicure" & "gnat's elbows".

Their only common feature was the comparison of something of excellent quality to a part of an animal, fish or in this case insect, very few such expressions have survived. A British example from the same period is the slightly less tasteful "The dog's bollocks"

Source :Britishbee.org.uk

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