what does p's and q's mean?

Answer 1

To be polite-"p's"=Please.
"q's"=Thank you(Thankyew).

Answer 2

The phrase means to mind your own business, don't get involved in others' affairs.

Besides the printing press explanation given earlier, there are two other possibilities to the meaning of the phrase"mind your p's and q's."

In relation to the printing press explanation, when young children are first learning to print letters, the letters "p" and "q" can easily be messed up. Depending on how it is to be used, a child is warned to mind which way the "tail" of the letter goes when forming the two letters.

Another popular belief, which is often said to be the basis of the meaning, deals with pubs. Beer and ale was sold in pints and quarts, and if there was a confrontation or ruckus occurring, the bartender or pub owner would yell to the other patrons to "mind their pints and quarts (p's and q's)" and ignore or pay no attention to whatever confrontation is occurring.

Answer 3

It means be conscientious of your manners and of details. It originated from when the p's and q's of printing presses could easily be reversed if the typographer was not being careful. Because of this, a printmaker was reminded to watch or mind his p's and q's.

Answer 4

On the early printing press, one letter at a time had to be set.
Since the letters were reversed to print forward, the printer had to be especially careful with the letters p and q.
To watch your p's & q's means to pay attention to details.
Phyllis G.

Answer 5

The phrase “mind your P's and Q's” is often used to remind people "to be on your best behavior and be careful of your language". There are different origin of the phrase:

- In the days of sail when Sailors were illiterate, in English Pub the owners had the practice of chalking up a tally of drinks (pints and quarters) consumed by each sailor, whom were made liable for each mark next to his name. So the Sailors had to keep their wits and remain somewhat sober to ensure an accurate count by unscrupulous keepers. Sobriety usually ensured good behavior, hence the meaning of "mind your P's and Q's."

-It meant "mind your pea (jacket) and queue." Queues (pigtails) were often powdered, and wifeypoo was telling hubby to keep the cruddy kid stuff off his collar.

- Mind your pieds (feet) and queues (wigs). This is suggested to have been an instruction given by French dancing masters to their charges. Another variation of this meant polishing your shoes and combing your hair

- Mind your Penny's and Quarters or Mind your pounds and quid, if you don't paid attention to your money you would lost it or get ripped off,

- It comes from the early days of printing, when movable type was positioned for printing. This process was done upside-down. However, the lowercase letters p and q were
hard to distinguish, since in most designs they were mirror images of each other.

- When learning to write, children often reverse these letters, so the teacher would admonish the students to be extra careful when writing them: Mind your P's and Q's.

- It derived as reminder to children to be polite. This is supposed to be as a form of 'mind your pleases and thank-yous' pronounced as 'mind you pleases and thang Q'

- It refers to chess: mind your pawns and queens. One would certainly want to keep track of both pawns and queens, as these pieces can be crucial in a chess game.

- P and q stands for "prime quality." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to be P and Q was a regional expression meaning top quality. "Bring in a quart of Maligo, right true: And looke, you Rogue, that it be Pee and Kew."

Answer 6

It means to be mindful of your manners especially in places where manners and etiquette are extremely important.

Answer 7

Mind you manners.

Answer 8

You mind these, as in the expression "mind your p's and q's."