What does "Mind your P's and Q's" mean?

Question

What does "Mind your P's and Q's" mean?

Answer 1

One simple explanation is that it's a childish abbreviation for minding your "pleases" and "thank yous." Considering how often kids are told to "mind your Ps and Qs" with the goal of being more polite, this explanation makes sense.

Two popular theories revolve around the mirror-image quality of the two letters. The phrase was recorded in 1830 as meaning "to learn one's letters." It was aimed at children learning to hand-write the lowercase letters p and q, which are quite similar. Another explanation along the same lines comes from the world of printing. Typesetters used blocks of type that were mirror images of the letters, so it would be easy to mix up lowercase p and q. This origin would give "mind your Ps and Qs" a connotation of being careful and paying sharp attention.

Another oft-mentioned source of the phrase is old pubs where beer and ale was served in pints and quarts. The barkeeper tracked patrons' drinking totals by marking "P" for pints and "Q" for quarts. Both the barkeeper and the drinker would want to keep careful track of those Ps and Qs so they knew what the final bill would be. Also, the drinker might want to pay attention to how much he drank so as to keep his own behavior under control.

World Wide Words notes that this puzzling and quirky idiom has inspired some fanciful explanations. In the 17th century, the expression "P and Q" meant "prime quality," which might have influenced the Ps and Qs phrase. Some suggest the saying came from a French dancing master's instructions to perform the dance figures pieds and queues properly. Or it could be an admonishment to sailors to keep their navy peacoats clean around their tarred queues or pigtails. But these derivations seem pretty far-fetched.

Answer 2

To mind one's Ps and Qs is an English phrase meaning to mind one's manners, or, generally, to be careful of one's behaviour. It is sometimes written mind one's P's and Q's (though some feel that apostrophes are unnecessary in the plurals of capital letters), or mind one's p's and q's.

Origin

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."

In 1745 Francis I purportedly demanded that his troops mind their P's and Q's. In the late 1800s the phrase gained popularity in Victorian households.

♥

Answer 3

it's simply "don't mess with me, just mind you're own business"

Answer 4

watch your foul language

Mind your Ps and Qs is an English expression with several origin stories. According to the American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, it means to pay attention to details. [1]

This expression has often been translated as "mind your manners" or "mind your pleases and thank yous." It is possible that the expression is an abbreviated term for minding one's manners as well, shortening pleases to p and thank yous to q, for the sake of a familiar expression.[2]

The expression can either be written as Mind your Ps and Qs or Mind your P's and Q's. The use of an apostrophe after a single capital is not required by tradition rules of grammar but is used by some to aid in clarity.

more answers are on the source below ( :

Answer 5

I want to know to but no one has answered.

Answer 6

The axiom was used in Victorian Britain to remind people to watch their manners.

Mind your Please and Thank(Q)yous, was the full term. It is supposed to encourage people to speak politely, most often used towards children or when children are about.

Answer 7

What a good question!  I have no idea.

Mind your peas and cues?

Mind your peace and quiet?

Mind your p's and q's -- don't get things backwards.

I think it's this last one, actually.

Answer 8

It quite simply means 'Mind your manners' or 'Pay Attention - be respectful and courteous.'

Answer 9

Pleases and thankyous (thanQus)

Answer 10

It goes back a number of years but my mom used to say it to me all the time. It means you know the rules you better behave and do what you're told to do.

Answer 11

I had never heard the Please and thankQ story before today.

The most common I have heard is the Pints and Quarts in regards to the bartender trying to warn a patron they were getting too drunk and/or rowdy.

But I have also heard the printing version quite a bit also.

Answer 12

I've always thought it meant not to swear.

Answer 13

to say please (abbreviated to p) and thankyous (from pronounciation, thankQ)

Answer 14

I work at a zoo..........I always thought it meant "Mind your Penquins and Quails.

ha.

No, just joking.......the story I have heard most often is the Type-setting one.

Back in the day, newspapers would actually take GREAT care to appear INTELLIGENT----and editors would actually have a cow over every single typo.

small p's and q's are very similar when inverted,  and back then, type was actually set by these teeny tiny little printing blocks!  

Quaint , huh?

well, all these letters were kept in boxes, sorted out........so when putting the letters back after each days' use.......the call was to "Mind your p's and q's"!!!!!

Meaning.........make sure you put them back in their appropiate boxes.......in the printers tray.........this way, the next day, someone isn't spelling...."please" with a backwards q........"qlease"

It's taken on a general meaning of "pay attention to DETAIL. "

or even more generally......".watch yourself!"

I still like "Mind your Penquins and Quails" though!

Answer 15

I'm so glad you asked. In England it was common to serve beer in Pints or Quarts. So in a pub when patrons became unruly, the bartender would tell everyone to mind their own P's and Q's (Pints & Quarts). Eventually this was shortened into "mind your P's and Q's"

For years I thought this was just a weird abreviation of Please and Thank you. lol

Answer 16

It mean's talk intelligently, not in ignorant slang, or foul language.

Answer 17

It means mind your pints and quarts.

A bar tender was responsible for the inventory of the bar and the admonishion was to make sure the till held the right amount of money and to watch the p's and q's for proper charging of the patrons.

Or at least this is what I was told as a young boy.