Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: The cat's pajamas (and a hurrah for MORTAL MUSIC)

I was looking up lists of cat- and dog-related sayings and slang when I bumped into the cat's pajamas. Cats... and pajamas? What a strange pairing. When, how, and why did it come about?

So, off I went, a-searching for more.

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(Randi Platt's Slang-o-Matic would certainly come in handy for this!)

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Merriam-Webster defines this phrase as "a highly admired or exceptionally excellent person or thing," and dates it to 1922. Wiktionary notes that the cat's pajamas became popular at the same time that phrases such as the bee's knees, cat's whiskers, and so on gained prominence. Wiktionary also referenced a New York Time's article from November 6, 1922, titled "Pajama Girl and Cats Out" in which a young woman in silk pajamas was spotted strolling along Fifth Avenue, leading four similarly-clad cats on leashes. I'd love to do a screen capture of that short article and put it here, but unsure about copyright issues, I'll just offer the link to the article and hope you can view it yourself.

The Phrase Finder also has a nice post on the cat's pajamas, adding an earlier sighting of the sentence "Wouldn't that beat the cat's pajamas?" in a February 1918 edition of The Pageland Journal, a South Carolina newspaper. Phase Finder also notes that cat was flapper slang for fashionable young woman, and that the phrase the cat's pajamas was so fashionable in the 1920s, it was attached to "a dance, a stage show, a song, a film, even the name of a style of furry underwear." (Oh my!)

By Paramount Pictures - Motion Picture News
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57788679

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Extra! Extra! MORTAL MUSIC Wins Silver

I'm excited to announce that MORTAL MUSIC received the "Silver" (second place) Will Rogers Medallion Award in the Maverick category! I was unable to attend the ceremony, but it was recorded. You can view it on YouTube and hear/see what they say about the book at the 36:25 mark. My favorite quote from the one-minute segment: "Inez Stannert is one of the most memorable characters to grace the pages of a western novel." 

Now isn't THAT the cat's pajamas! :-)

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.... Late-breaking bonus! I found a piano rendition of the 1920s tune "The Cat's Pajamas" on YouTube. So, if your day could use a little toe-tapping music, click below and enjoy!