What does the old saying ,"Mind your P's and Q's mean?" does the P and the Q stand for anything ?

Answer 1

Here's what Wiki has to say:

There are numerous theories about the origin of the phrase. One is that it began in British pubs as an abbreviation for "mind your pints and quarts." Supposedly, this warned the bartender to serve full measure, mark the customer's tab accurately, etc.

Another suggestion is that the phrase originated in the printing trade, at the time when printing presses used movable type set by hand. When looking at the type, all the letters are in mirror image so that they will print on paper correctly. Because the letters "p" and "q" look very similar and were stored side by side in the type cases, it was easy for a typesetter to pull a letter from the wrong slot and not notice this. When the type was removed from the press and sorted back into the type cases, mixing q's with p's was likely unless care was taken. A similar theory tells of a teacher instructing a young student to write p's and q's appropriately, as they look similar.

Some have suggested that "mind your Ps and Qs" means "mind your 'pleases' and 'thank-yous'", with the letters "p" and "q" standing as onomatopoeic representations of the respective words.

Still another theory hypothesizes that the term might be in some way connected to the phrase "peace and quiet."

Answer 2

I was always told that it came from Old English pubs, with the bartender telling patrons to mind their Pints & Quarts, i.e., stay out of other's business. This website I found, however, has many different alternatives to meanings.

Answer 3

I heard that it means mind your Pints and Quarts. In Pubs when people would start arguing, the bartenders would tell them to mind their own drinks... being pints n quarts!

Answer 4

Originally, it was English bar terminology. It meant mind your "pints" and "Quarts". In other words, serve a drink watching carefully that the customer got what he paid for in his glass.

Answer 5

Mind your P's & Q's comes from colonial times when bartenders had to pay attention to who had ordered a Pint of beer & who had ordered a Quart of beer.

Answer 6

I was told that years ago, pubkeepers would tell the patrons to "mind their pints and quarts" in the event the crowd would become unruly. It was probably just shortened to "P's and Q's" and it eventually meant "mind your manners."

Answer 7

it started in merry ole England,when they bought there ale it was in pints&quarts anbif the bar keep got the habit of shorten the p&q, the good partons passed the word along..... ya don't want to go there mate,if you do ,,mind your p&qs....THE"IS"