2006-08-22 12:43:13 · 10 answers · asked by aaron r 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
There are various proposed explanations of this. Amongst the most plausible are the notion that ale used to be ordered in either pints or quarts and you needed to be careful which you were given.
The fact that typesetters needed to be careful when setting type because the 'p's and 'q's looked similar seems a better explanation.
A third, from Melissa Shenker, is 'mind your pleases and thankyous'. This has the merit of being closer to the meaning of the phrase although the thankyous = thank 'q's stretches the imagination somewhat.
I hope this helps.
2006-08-22 12:47:11 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 1⤋
I live in Michigan and I went to Greenfield Village where Henry Ford collects many old antiques and they have different building set up. I went into a printshop they have set up that is a replica of what they used to have back in the day. The man running it said that all of the letters and punctuation marks were kept in two cases. All the pieces were mirror image like a stamp. So when laid in the printer it would print the right way. the P's and Q's were very similar and that is where mind the P's and Q's came from. Also, that is where the terms Upper case and lower case came from. the larger letters were kept in the Upper.. and so on.
2006-08-22 13:45:53 · answer #2 · answered by wingnutrosie 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are various proposed explanations of this. Amongst the most plausible are the notion that ale used to be ordered in either pints or quarts and you needed to be careful which you were given. The fact that typesetters needed to be careful when setting type because the 'p's and 'q's looked similar seems a better explanation.
2006-08-22 12:45:30 · answer #3 · answered by Bethany 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
This came from the use of the offset printing press. In order to make copies the lettering had to be set backward. The last instruction that was given was to watch the "p's" and "q's". As you can see they are a mirror of each other and could easily be confused.
2006-08-25 14:16:34 · answer #4 · answered by Birdbrain 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's an old English saying. When things would start to get rowdy in an English pub, the bartender would tell his patrons to "Mind your P's and Q's!" P and Q are short for pints and quarts, so the bartender is basically telling the crown to settle down and go back to drinking their beer.
2006-08-22 12:48:15 · answer #5 · answered by iittghy? 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
mind your p's and q's atually means be careful of the little details and it relates back to printing presses where the type was set by hand... as the letters are backwards on a printing press it was easy to mistake the p's and q's...
2006-08-22 14:58:51 · answer #6 · answered by wollemi_pine_writer 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
P=pee and Q=quart...
Back in the day there were bathrooms outside only so when people at the pub had to pee, they did so in bottles. They had to remember which quart bottle they peed in because making a mistake would be realllly unpleasant.
2006-08-24 08:51:51 · answer #7 · answered by Z- 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Pints and quarts. In old English, mind your P's and Q's meant to watch your alcohol intake, and thus your manners, in social gatherings.
2006-08-22 12:44:22 · answer #8 · answered by Incorrectly Political 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Mind you Politeness and Quietness
2006-08-22 12:47:17 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
Mind your pleases (P's) and Thankyou's (Q's - ThanQ)
2006-08-22 20:21:40 · answer #10 · answered by roxi_biloxi 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋