and where does it come from?
2006-10-22 10:17:01 · 20 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Be on your best behaviour and be careful of your language.
Origin
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.
Source(s):
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/24800...
2006-10-22 10:20:02 · answer #1 · answered by purplebobbed 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In olden times, when people copied manuscripts laboriously by hand, p and q tended to be written in a very similar way, consisting of a circle with a long tail. The way to distinguish between them was to add a small flourish to the q, but sometimes this was forgotten, with confusing results. That is why when a person is enjoined to be careful, he is told to mind his p's and q's.
There is an alternative explanation to the effect that in the court of Louis XIV, dancing masters cautioned fledgling courtiers to mind their pieds (their dancing feet) and queues (their full wigs--the so-called "periwigs" or long "perruques" worn by fashionable men, sometimes including an even longer braided strand hanging down the back and tied with a ribbon). What with all that bobbing and curtsying, it would have been awkward if the courtiers' wigs fell off or they tripped on their hair.
2006-10-22 17:44:33 · answer #2 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mind your p's and q's
Meaning
Be on your best behaviour and be careful of your language.
Origin
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.
2006-10-22 17:31:19 · answer #3 · answered by kizkat 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Pints and Quarts, at last orders the barkeep would shout "time gentlemen, please. Mind your Pints and Quarts!" Basically instructing you to check how much booze you had left and if you needed, and could safely handle, more then you should get it now.
It was, essentially, the original "drink responsibly" campaign. Get what you want, but don't be a tit! It has filtered down through the centuries to mean, "be nice - don't be a c.ock"!
2006-10-22 18:47:32 · answer #4 · answered by alfie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When people mind there Ps and Qs it is to be careful; cautious. The Ps here are said to be pints and the Qs to be quarts. The publican used to "chalk up" or "puts on the slate" the drinks supplied to customers; they must be aware of how much they have drunk or their bills will be unexpectedly large.
2006-10-23 14:32:34 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
it comes from old english in pubs when people were being conscripted into the navy by having a coin put in your glass the saying watch your ps and qs means watch your pints and quarts incase someone tries to consript you with a coin in the bottom.
2006-10-22 17:27:30 · answer #6 · answered by kez m 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've heard two stories.
One interpretation often cited is to mind your "products and quotients," referring to keeping good mathematical records.
Another refers to navy clothing once worn hundreds of years ago. They had "queues" (pigtails) soaked in oil, and they were warned not to get the oil on their pea-jackets.
More interpretations exist, and they all seem logical.
http://www.yaelf.com/aueFAQ/mifmindyourpsandqs.shtml
2006-10-22 17:27:29 · answer #7 · answered by kevinthenerd 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've always heard it came from the pub, meaning 'mind your pints and quarts'...I guess telling you to be cautious of your neighbor's space and not to spill carelessly. This was then extended to etiquette in general I suppose.
2006-10-22 17:25:28 · answer #8 · answered by niwriffej 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The other slightly implausible one is the French coourtiers of the 18th. century who were advised to mind their pieds (feet) and queues (pigtails), which came to mean manners.
2006-10-22 17:25:06 · answer #9 · answered by migdalski 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I alway's thought it was to mind your language.
But I've just looked in a book of idioms and it says :
Mind ones p's and q's = be careful (not to annoy somebody).
i.e: "The supervisor is all right as long as you watch your p's and q's".
2006-10-22 17:31:38 · answer #10 · answered by Julie B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋