Just a Thought | The cat's what?

You know when you take two perfectly good words, put them together, 

and suddenly they just don't make any sense?

Like the cat's pajamas. 

What the - what!?

I know it's a real phrase and all, I just don't get it. 

The cat's pajamas. 

Like a cat would ever willingly wear a pajamas.

So I thought, where did this expression come from? 

And I googled it.

Naturally.

What in the world did we do before Google? Were we just ignorant?

And this is what came up:

"A slang phrase coined by Thomas A. Dorgan. 

The phrase became popular in the U.S. in the 1920s,

 along with the bee's knees, the cat's whiskers 

(possibly from the use of these in radio crystal sets). 

In the 1920s the word cat was used as a term to describe

 the unconventional flappers from the jazz era.

 This was combined with the word pajamas 

(a relatively new fashion in the 1920s) 

to form a phrase used to describe something that is the best at what it does, 

thus making it highly sought and desirable. 

Similar phrases that didn't endure:

 the eel's ankle, the elephant's instep, and the snake's hip."

Okay, so I guess that makes sense. Somewhat.

But wait - the eel's ankle? The snake's hip?

Honestly, I would rather walk up to someone and say

"Hey! You're the eel's ankle."

than 

"Hey! You're the cat's pajamas."

Or is that just me?

I just find it a bit more catchy.

So, I tried googling "the eel's ankle", I mean, come on, I had to,

but nothing really turned up.

But if you hear me describe someone as the eel's ankle

then just know that it's a good thing.

And then start using it yourself!

Wouldn't it be cool if we could get this thing to catch on,

when people in the 1920's clearly weren't up to the task?

Yeah, so there was really no actual point in this blogpost,

I was just wondering.. 

Hope your week is the cat's pajamas so far!

- Lea Binta

Image found on google.com