Way back in 2021, I Slang-o-rama'd (how's that for a verb??) about the cat's pajamas. I believe a post on the cat's meow is a tad overdue. Let's rectify that now.
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According to Merriam-Webster, the cat's meow is "a highly admired person or thing," with the first known use being in 1921. Boy, I'd sure like to know what that first appearance was... That being said, I was so pleased to then find this phrase in the online Green's Dictionary of Slang, which is a marvelous reference for this kind of thing. Sure enough, they note that, according to Leonard Zwilling's "A TAD Lexicon. Etymology and Linguistic Principles: V.3," (1993) San Francisco cartoonist Tad (T.A.) Dorgan wrote "Some party. Some home made hooch. — Gee — I feel like the cat’s meow." I'd sure love to see THAT cartoon!
Green's Dictionary also offers a gaggle of slangy synonyms—cat’s tonsillitis, duck’s quack, elephant’s tonsils, pig’s scream, sparrow’s chirp—and examples. If you're curious, check out the entry here.
In the meantime, here is a photo of... yes... a cat's meow.
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?
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!)
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!
I was looking for a silly word for this week because it's all been tooooo serious for tooooo long out in the real world, so cockamamie it is!
In my mind, I hear my mother saying this word with great scorn in her voice. So, now I'm wondering: How far back does it date?
Let's check it out!
> > > > > > > > > > > > The definition of cockamamie is "mixed-up, ridiculous, implausible," according to The Online Etymological Dictionary. This source goes on to say:
American English slang word attested by 1946, popularized c. 1960, but said to be New York City children's slang from mid-1920s; perhaps an alteration of decalcomania (see decal). There is a 1945 recorded use of the word apparently meaning a kind of temporary tattoo used by children.
Wow, that's a strange connection! And, given that my mother was born in the 1920s, it makes sense it would pop up in her vocabulary.
World Wide Words agrees (with some reservation) with OED, providing a connection to Brooklyn:
The link between decalcomania and cockamamie isn’t proved, but the evidence suggests strongly that children in New York City in the 1930s (or perhaps a decade earlier) converted the one into the other. There was a fashion for self-decoration at that period, using coloured transfers given away with candy and chewing gum. Shelly Winters wrote of cockamamie in The New York Times in 1956 that “This word, translated from the Brooklynese, is the authorized pronunciation of decalcomania. Anyone there who calls a cockamamie a decalcomania is stared at.
(Quick question to myself: Have I used cockamamie in my fiction? Quick check-and-answer: No! ... Good thing, because my series takes place from 1879 to the 1880s. I see that decalcomania, on the other hand, was part of the U.S. lexicon by 1865. Hmmmm.)
Cockamamie may be relatively new, but decalcomania goes waaay back! By H. Wilson - appeared in Trow's New York City Directory, 1870 Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69889168
ADDENDUM:
And thanks to Liz, I can offer you "Cockamamie Business" by George Harrison for your listening pleasure!
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