What does the phrase mind your p’s and q’s mean and where does it come from? Trevor Bryden’s latest cartoon illustrates the origin of this phrase.
What does the phrase mind your p’s and q’s mean and where does it come from? Trevor Bryden’s latest cartoon illustrates the origin of this phrase.
Very creative illustration of the origin of the phrase in question 🙂 Thank you! 🙂
Mind your P’s and Q’s means ‘ Mind your own business’
Thank you.
actually, i can’t understand at all!!!
Illustrated very clearly. Thanks.
Could anyone explain the illustration please?
The expression “mind you ‘p’s and ‘q’s” comes from a typesetter’s problem of having to view letters in reverse. The letter ‘b’ and ‘d’ are also the same in that, viewed in reverse, they can be confused.
Preparing text for printing involved picking the letter with a pair of ‘tweezers’ and placing it in the word order they are forming for printing which is all in reverse. In the ‘California Typesetter’s Box’ the ‘b’ and ‘d’ are in two entirely different places but the ‘p’ and the ‘q’ are side by side. If you don’t pay attention you can get the ‘p’ and ‘q’ confused and inadvertently put in the wrong letter. You have to pay attention to what you are doing. Hence the expression.
Another suggestion is the expression could come from running a tab in a pub and not paying attention to the number of pints and quarts you have had. You could have a tab that you don’t have the money to pay so you have to pay attention. …….. Trevor
I thought it meant : mind (don’t forget) to use your manners.
In growing up, “Mind your P’s and Q’s” was an admonishment to be on the best of manners, which meant being considerate.
I’ve been told that the phrase reffered to pubs running a tab for their regulars and that the barkeep would keep a running record where P stood for pint and q for quart. So that minding your p’s and q’s meant that you kept track of how much you owed on your tab/ line of credit.
I never knew I just came up with my owns meaning mind your PS n Q’s meaning in every interaction or situation throughout the day thru experience I have developed a set of Paranoia Questions to test the integrity of all situations relationships or interactions that you deal with on a day to day basis so I know if I would like to trust or even indulge myself into the information given by interactions or situations faced …..
What are the words in the gray smoke???GROAN what???
Groan – my head hurts
Meep meep meep
Pingback: New words – 17 February 2020 – About Words – Cambridge Dictionaries Online blog – Get Proficiency in English
We used to be told (wrongly and imaginatively – and I believed it at the time!) that it meant “Mind your manners”, because one should say “Please” (your “p”), and “Thank you” – pronounced “thank q”.