The Bees Knees

Have you heard the saying, "The bees knees"? I happened to see it in the newspaper the other day and it got me to wondering how the phrase started and just what it meant.

According to Google a guy named Tad Dorgan, a cartoonist and sportswriter who was well known for coining phrases that didn't make much sense but were pleasing to the ear, started the Bees Knees back in the 1920s. Some think he meant it as shorthand for  "It's business" meaning it's great. Some other examples of his phrases were "The cat's pajamas" And  "For crying out loud". If you say the word business slowly it can be taken for Bees Knees.

Bees do have knees with sacks  about the midsection of the legs. They store the pollen they collect in the sacks. Since the pollen was so precious it was considered the height of excellence and greatness thus the Bees Knees became a meaning for being  highly regarded and excellent.

I will have to dig into some of the other sayings since some of them are interesting
and I would like to know their origins.