What do the letters P and Q stand for in the saying "Mind your p's and q's?

Answer 1

My dad worked in a newspaper print place, and he said when they set the type for the newspaper, you had to be very careful, because the p's and the q's had to be checked, it was easy to switch them around. You'd put all the letters in backwards, see?

Answer 2

Meaning
Be on your best behaviour and be careful of your language.
Origin
"mind your P's and Q's" had nautical beginnings as a method of keeping books on the waterfront.
In the days of sail when Sailors were paid a pittance, seamen drank their ale in taverns whose keepers were willing to extend credit until payday. Since many salts were illiterate, keepers kept a tally of pints and quarts consumed by each Sailor on a chalkboard behind the bar. Next to each person's name, a mark was made under "P" for pint or "Q" for quart whenever a seaman ordered another draught.
On payday, each seaman was liable for each mark next to his name, so he was forced to "mind his P's and Q's" or he would get into financial trouble. To ensure an accurate count by unscrupulous keepers, Sailors had to keep their wits and remain somewhat sober. Sobriety usually ensured good behavior, hence the meaning of "mind your P's and Q's."

Answer 3

The phrase comes from the practice of maintaining a tally in pubs and taverns. Marks under column P, for pint, or Q, for quart, would be made on a blackboard. To tell a bartender to mind his Ps and Qs would be to tell him to mind his own business and get back to work.

That's one theory. The one about typesetters is another. The jury is out on which is the correct version.

Answer 4

In English pubs, ale was ordered by pints and quarts. So, in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. m

Answer 5

They don't. Back in the days of hand set type, you'd have bins of letters made out of lead. You had to be careful to use the right ones -- and to put them back into the right bins afterward. "p" and "q" are backward from each other, easy to get confused.

Answer 6

pints and quarts, it refers to keeping track of your tab while drinking in a pub.

however, the symbols of p and q are also frequently used as variables in the formal expression of predicate logic, especially if/then statements... as in if p (is true) then q (must also be true)

so to philosophers, logicians and professors of logic, it is often used as a bad pun to describe what they do.

Answer 7

I think it refers to the right use of the letters.that is if you get "p" in a word like psycho and "q" in a word like queen, right , then you are supposed to be doing well in the language usage--

Answer 8

pints and quarts - from British pubs

Answer 9

pints and quarts

Answer 10

Mind your porcupines and you quails......duh!