Being a former beekeeper for 34 years I just had to do some research on
the subject.
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reference: http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/knees
What is the origin of the phrase 'the bee's knees', and what
exactly does it mean?
The /Oxford English Dictionary/ records the expression / bee's knee/ as
meaning the type of something small or insignificant from 1797. The
plural form is US slang dating from the 1920s, when there was an
explosion of terms meaning 'the acme of excellence': compare /the cat's
whiskers/pyjamas/. The first example is dated 1923. Some of these have
lasted, and some have not (/the flea's eyebrows, the canary's tusks/).
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reference: http://www.yaelf.com/aueFAQ/mifbeesknees.shtml
*"the bee's knees"(Phrase Origins)*
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".
Source: [Mark Israel, 'Phrase Origins: "the bee's knees"', The
alt.usage.english FAQ file,(line 4407) <http://www.english-usage.com/>,
(29 Sept 1997)]
Beekeepers usually consider the corbiculae, or pollen baskets as a
reference to the broad hairy regions of the female worker bees rear
legs. The pollen load can at time exceed the weight of the bee and yet
it still manages to fly. Amazing little insects. I miss the smell of
the hive. The absolutely best image I could find for the corbiculae is
here:
http://www.yorku.ca/bugsrus/BFoW/Images/Introduction/Fig_29_Frieseomelitta_Corbicula.jpg
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Stelios is working on the bees-knees of ID cornucopia. You will be able
to specify by mode, by Tx and by Rx, whether or not RSID encoding /
decoding occurs, and by mode whether or not CW / VIDEO encoding occurs.
73, Dave, W1HKJ
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