Do Bees Have Knees? - Say What?!
Clip: Season 2023 | 3m 51sVideo has Closed Captions
Travel to the "Roaring Twenties" and learn about the animal expression, "The Bee's Knees"
Learn about the once-popular animal idiom "the bee's knees," in this episode of Say What?! Though it may not be used much today, it’s considered a big compliment to say something is “the bee’s knees.” But why is that? The connecting joints on a bee’s legs may be considered knees, but according to special guest and friend of bees, Krystle Hickman, it isn’t really what bees are known for.
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Camp TV is a local public television program presented by THIRTEEN PBS
Do Bees Have Knees? - Say What?!
Clip: Season 2023 | 3m 51sVideo has Closed Captions
Learn about the once-popular animal idiom "the bee's knees," in this episode of Say What?! Though it may not be used much today, it’s considered a big compliment to say something is “the bee’s knees.” But why is that? The connecting joints on a bee’s legs may be considered knees, but according to special guest and friend of bees, Krystle Hickman, it isn’t really what bees are known for.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[upbeat music] - [Narrator] Have you ever heard something described as "the bee's knees?"
What do you think that means?
- [Kid One] No clue.
- [Kid Two] Maybe something not great, kinda floppy?
- [Kid Three] Like, something painful?
- [Kid Four] That's the best thing ever or something?
[dinging] - [Narrator] Right.
Though it may not be used much today, it's considered a big compliment to say something is the bee's knees.
[rock music] - Have you heard The Electric Stingers' new song, "Love Stings?"
- Oh, that song is the bee's knees.
I love it so much.
- [Narrator] But instead of talking to an etymologist, someone who studies the history of words, maybe we should check in with an entomologist, someone who studies insects.
- Krystle Hickman, friend of bees, how may I help you?
- [Narrator] Oh hey Krystle, this may be a silly question: do bees... have knees?
- Interesting.
Well, bees do have legs with different sections, and the connecting joints may be considered "knees."
Bees do carry pollen back to their homes, sometimes on their hairy legs.
I mean, that's kind of "the bee's knees," but I don't think bees are really known for their knees.
- [Narrator] Thanks anyway, Krystle.
Yeah, as tempting as it may bee, - Ooh, that was bad.
- [Narrator] there's no proof that the origin of the saying, "the bee's knees" comes directly from a buzzing bee.
- Bee-lieve me, I've got better things to do than listen to you drone on.
- [Narrator] In the 1700's, - [Old British Man] but instead of meaning something excellent, we said "a bee's knee" to mean something small, so that doesn't really help you today.
Terribly sorry.
- [Narrator] The saying really became popular in America in the 1920's, otherwise known as "The Roaring Twenties," when it was trendy to use made up expressions to say something was excellent.
- Why that movie was the best.
- Yeah, it was the cat's pajamas.
- You said it, a real monkey's eyebrow.
- It sure was the bee's knees.
- [Narrator] In 1922, a newspaper had an article with the headline... - What does it mean?
That's what you wonder when you hear these made-up new sayings, like the bee's knees.
- [Narrator] Sadly for us though, they didn't talk about where the saying came from.
- So close.
- [Narrator] There is one pretty amazing connection with the saying "the bee's knees" and an actual bee.
But not the kind of bee you're thinking of.
Meet Bee Jackson, a famous New York City dancer.
- A lot of folks say I introduced a very popular new dance, called, "The Charleston," to audiences on Broadway in 1924.
- [Narrator] She actually became the world champion Charleston dancer, so it is possible that the saying "the bee's knees" really caught on because of the dancer, Bee Jackson, and her champion knees.
But no one really knows for sure.
- Makes for an excellent story though, doesn't it?
Now, I'd call that the bee's knees.
[upbeat music]
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