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Mind your Ps and Qs is an English language expression meaning "mind your manners", "mind your language", "be on your best behaviour", or "watch what you're doing". Attempts at explaining the origin of the phrase go back to the mid-19th century.
Learn the meaning and origin of the phrase 'Mind your Ps and Qs', which means be on your best behaviour or be careful of your language. Find out the possible sources of the expression, from pubs to printing to wigs, and the doubts about its spelling and usage.
Learn the meaning and usage of the old-fashioned idiom mind your p's and q's, which means to be especially polite in a situation. See examples, synonyms, translations and related words.
10 feb 2011 · Learn the origin and usage of the phrase \"mind your P's and Q's\", which means to be careful, polite, or respectful. See different theories and examples from various sources and users.
- "Mind your Ps and Qs" means "be careful to behave well and avoid giving offense." The NOAD reports that its origin is unknown; it would refer to t...
- I've always heard that it was originally short for "Mind your Pints and Quarts!" Something an innkeeper (or what-have-you) would shout to an unruly...
- It means Be on your best behaviour; be careful of your language. The date of the coinage of 'mind your Ps and Qs' is uncertain. There is a citation...
- There are many theories, (some of them given in answers here) but none of them has any supporting evidence whatever. WorldWideWords has an article.
- Anyone who has worked as a printer's devil knows the answer to the origin (and meaning) of the elderly term, "Mind your p's and q's." I must pref...
- It's to do with the fact that children often confuse the small 'p' with the small 'q' when learning how to write and read (like they do with b's an...
- Another theory I have heard - probably apocryphal - is that it has to do with the two branches of the Celtic family of languages: P-celtic (i.e. Br...
- I've always understood as a warning to be polite. And I've always seen it this way: Mind your P's and Q's as in your "Pleases" (P's) and "Thank-you...
- The Basic Politeness Theory
- The Scribal abbreviation Theory
- The Pigtail and Overcoat Theory
- The French Country Dancing Theory
- The Let’s All Have A Drink Theory
- The Handwriting/Typesetting Theory
Probably the most widely held explanation also happens to be the most straightforward: p’s sounds a bit like “please,” q’s sounds a bit like “thank yous,” so to mind your p’s and q’s ultimately means “to mind your good manners.” It’s a neat idea, but it’s not a particularly reliable one: There isn’t enough textual evidence to support it, which sugg...
A much less well-known explanation suggests that your p’s and q’s might actually have their origins way back when handwritten Latin documents were still being widely compiled and interpreted. Latin is a tough enough language to get your head around at the best of times, but in the Medieval period, scholars and scribes were seemingly determined to m...
The earliest record we have of someone’s p’s and q’s comes from a snappily titled Jacobean stage play called Satiromastix, or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet written by the English playwright Thomas Dekker in 1601. The line in questionreads, “Now thou art in thy Pee and Kue, thou hast such a villanous broad backe.” Both Dekker’s unusual spellin...
Forget the pea-coat for a second. Imagine instead that you’re wearing your favorite queue-peruke while simultaneously learning to dance a courtly French jig. You’d understandably have to be careful not to hit the other dancers in the face with the tail end of your peruke as you were paying close attention to your feet. And the French word for foot?...
In 1607, five years after the publication of Satiromastix, Dekker published another play called Westward Hoe. It contains the line, “at her p. and q. neither Marchantes [merchant’s] daughter, Aldermans wife, young countrey Gentle-woman, nor Courtiers Mistris [mistress], can match her.” Same author, same phrase. But very different spelling. The Oxfo...
This is the explanation Merriam-Webster ascribes to: Children being taught to read and write commonly mix up their lowercase p’s and lowercaseq’s, so telling them to “mind their p’s and q’s” means telling them to be extra careful, so as not to make a mistake. Similarly, another theory suggests that the originalp’s and q’s might have been the indivi...
2 giorni fa · Learn the meaning and origin of the phrase 'mind your Ps and Qs', which means to be polite and careful in formal situations. Listen to an example dialogue and other expressions related to social behaviour.
Learn the origin and usage of the common English idiom \"mind your Ps and Qs\", which means \"be careful about what you say or do\". Discover the possible sources of the phrase, from pubs to printing, and see examples from literature and everyday language.
