Good Morning everyone! Are we ready for another As They Say phrase? It’s such a glorious day that one might say, it’s the cat’s pyjamas! Oh, I don’t know for certain if that’s the right way to use this, but per FibercraftGrannie’s request, I shall give it my best try!

When I think of a cat in pajamas, it makes me giggle. I can’t help it! The idea brings back so many memories of my children playing dress up with our cats. I couldn’t stop myself with the AI photo generator, and it didn’t do me wrong with the choices of swanky felines it offered up!

Granted, we all now have a funny picture in our heads, but whether or not it comes close to the actual definition, is still yet to be determined. What the phrase actually means and the time and place of its’ origin, shall now begin…

Considering the history of cat’s within our society, one leans toward life on the farm or covered wagon days… when cat’s were mostly used for keeping the rodent population down in folks barns. I can imagine a child playing dress-up with the family’s resident mouser!

Then again, perhaps it was simply the diversity of cat’s fur colors and textures that brought about the idea. There may have been a cat born with colorations that looked just like a pair of PJ’s! With this in mind, one could surmise that the phrase possibly traces all the way back to the time of the Pharaoh’s. If memory serves me right, the Egyptians revered cats, so there were cats running all over the place. It’s quite possible there were cats walking the halls, looking like they were dressed in clothing. Or maybe, we can imagine some child from the royal house, snatching up the closest Flurby and dressing them up like a baby.

Hour after hour, Pharaoh had to sit on his throne, listening to endless problems, being required to offer up all the right answers. The bright spot of his day, might have been to see one of his many children, peeking at him from behind a curtain in the back of the hall. After a particularly rough day, the odds are good that seeing a child carrying a cat dressed like a person, would bring a smile to Pharaoh’s face. The next time the man heard good news, he may have simply said, “Wow! This great news is the cat’s pajamas!”

I realize that you may be laughing right now, but hey, it could have happened that way… Just sayin!

Let’s test this answer against our Googlanator machine:

The first thing I noticed was that some sites spell it Pajamas, while others spell it Pyjamas. I’m going to just leave it the way I’ve spelt it, as it doesn’t change the definition!

I tried to look at the information offered on Merriam Webster, but it was pretty inadequate for an in-depth answer. I continued my search, landing on this one from Wikipedia,

THE CAT’S PAJAMAS

Etymology

Popular in the US as early as 1922^[1] around which the bee’s knees, cat’s whiskers, and numerous other similar phrases gained prominence.^[2] Sometimes attributed to cartoonist Tad Dorgan.^[2] It is widely believed that the origin of this idiom predates considerably, tracing back to the early 1800s in England. During this period, a tailor named E.B. Katz crafted silk pajamas for members of royalty and the upper class.^[3]

Noun

the cat‘s pyjamas pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic) A highly sought-after and fancy example of something, usually referring to inanimate objects. That new car was really the cat’s pyjamas.

While my definition doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the actual origin of the phrase, it still makes more sense the way I wrote it, if I’m being honest. Google took all the fun out of it! Oh well, right is right and wrong is wrong, so I’ll stand down and let history have this one. I’m still using my version, though, because I like mine better!

I have one more idiom offered that I’ll work on next Saturday, but will be needing your suggestions to keep us rolling forward. Be sure and offer up your ideas in the comments section, and I’ll put em on the list in the order I receive them.

Now, go have a fantastic day with your loved ones… hugs