As a non-Englishman, I do know some of your proverbs and their meaning of course, though sometimes I don't understand their origin. Could somebody please enlighten me about the "bee's knees"? I reckon our German "the yellow of the egg" (which to my surprise isn't just a bad translation but apparently proper English) doesn't make too much sense anyway, but I am still curious.
- If the sound of Samuel Barber's "Adagio For Strings" makes you think of Kharak burning instead of the Vietnamese jungle, most of your youth happened during the 90s. -
This site seems to think it comes from the roaring twenties American trend of making up nonsense phrases as superlatives; "the cat's pyjamas" and all that.
Can I have "The Elephant's estranged cousin"?
From the Wiki.
Etymology
Unknown. One of many such informal phrases coined in the early 20th century for no apparent reason, of which only a few have endured. One possible origin is from the British expression "B's and E's" meaning "be all and end all". Another is a playful mispronunciation of business.
I always thought it's called that because the bee's carry their honey on their legs, so it's the best part off the bee or something.
Last edited by Ravelle; 17-10-2012 at 03:41 PM.
Steam | Origin: xRavelle | Skype: TheRavelle | PSN: Voltburn | Watch me struggle through my backlog
Strictly the yellow of the egg is called the yolk, unless it's a direct translation of a saying.Originally Posted by c-Row
I just ate a jar full of Bee's knees, they were delicious.
I'm failing to writing a blog, specifically about playing games the wrong way
http://playingitwrong.wordpress.com/
Frog legs are old hat.
Steam | Origin: xRavelle | Skype: TheRavelle | PSN: Voltburn | Watch me struggle through my backlog
An online dictionary claims its a gastronomy term, though some of my English friends told me that's most probably a mistake.
- If the sound of Samuel Barber's "Adagio For Strings" makes you think of Kharak burning instead of the Vietnamese jungle, most of your youth happened during the 90s. -
The Bee's Knees refers to an ancient Mesopotamian hallucinogen, the recipe for which has been lost to the winds of time. Consumption of the mixture was said to give men visions of the future and wisdom from the gods. They also woke up with their trousers on their heads. [Some scholars have posited that this was seen as a divine message and that is how proto-turbans came about.]
When used as a colloquial phrase people are in fact responding to a deep genetic memory of the concoction that is presumably triggered by a need for some sort of spiritual revelation, and potentially a need to walk around in their underwear. This is likely why the phrase is rarely used in winter, and most frequently used in the tropics as the necessity of trousers on legs is less needed during clement periods of weather.
That's strange, I once did two lines of bee's knees and woke up naked in a field some hours later with pollen all over my legs and I don't remember seeing anything.
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