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manners
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What does minding your P,s and Q,s mean?
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According to the Oxford English Dictionary - the 'bible' of word/phrase origins - the meaning is obscure but it probably referred to children learning to write or to apprentice printers learning their trade. In the old days, print used to be made up of small, lead letters placed into a tray before being pressed onto paper. The two letters that learners - children and apprentice-printers alike - had to be especially careful about were 'p' and 'q', as they are a sort of mirror image of each other. Hence, the advice to them: "Mind your p's and q's!"
There are other explanations that have been offered. One is that it was advice to drinkers in pubs who had to "Mind your pints and quarts!"
Another is that it was an instruction from 18th century French dancing-teachers for gentlemen to mind their 'pieds et queues'. That's French for 'feet' and 'pigtails' (which men wore as part of their wigs in those days). Obviously, they had to be careful what happened to both, if the ladies were not to be inconvenienced!
Another along the same lines is that it might have been a warning to sailors not to get their pea-jackets dirty from contact with their tarred pigtails or queues.
And finally it just might have been advice to children who were going to visit relatives etc. They had to mind their �pleases' and �thankyous'!
My advice is to dismiss the last four of these suggestions and stick with the kids' writing or the printer's apprentices, as the OED says.
There are other explanations that have been offered. One is that it was advice to drinkers in pubs who had to "Mind your pints and quarts!"
Another is that it was an instruction from 18th century French dancing-teachers for gentlemen to mind their 'pieds et queues'. That's French for 'feet' and 'pigtails' (which men wore as part of their wigs in those days). Obviously, they had to be careful what happened to both, if the ladies were not to be inconvenienced!
Another along the same lines is that it might have been a warning to sailors not to get their pea-jackets dirty from contact with their tarred pigtails or queues.
And finally it just might have been advice to children who were going to visit relatives etc. They had to mind their �pleases' and �thankyous'!
My advice is to dismiss the last four of these suggestions and stick with the kids' writing or the printer's apprentices, as the OED says.
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