What is the origin of the phrase mind your p's and q's?

Answer 1

The contextual meaning of this phrase is "mind your manners," i.e. be on your best behavior. It is an imperative for politeness, etiquette, and social propriety. (For instance, "We're going to have dinner at the White House, so be on your best behavior. Mind your p's and q's.")

Unfortunately, the origin of this phrase has not been proven so far. However, there are many proposed origins. Often, a proposed origin will include a detailed historical background to lend it more plausibility. The two most popular explanations are as follows:

• It originated in British pubs as an abbreviation for "mind your pints and quarts." Supposedly this warned the barkeep to serve full measure, mark the customer's tab accurately, etc. It has also been attributed as something the bartender would say to patrons, meaning they need to mind their own tabs.

• It originated in the early days of movable type printing, when letters were placed manually. Because all letters and characters appeared in reverse when viewed directly (so that they would print forward when pressed onto paper), letters that were reverse images of one another (such as "p" and "q") would often get switched by accident. This led to the phrase "mind your p's and q's", a reminder to be attentive.

While widely accepted as plausible because of their historical settings, neither of these explanations provides a correct contextual meaning when compared to general usage of the phrase.

The most contextually accurate explanation for the phrase is as follows:

• The phrase is a phonetic abbreviation of "mind your please's and thank you's." Because saying "please" and "thank you" are at the core of basic social etiquette, the phrase was commonly used to remind someone to be mindful of etiquette and politeness in a social situation.

Many people have difficulty with this last explanation because phonetic abbreviation is not as obvious as direct reference, so it's difficult to see where the "q" comes from. Seen phonetically, "Thank you's" would be written "thang q's", such that "please's and thank you's" shortens phonetically to "p's and q's."

• Another suggested origin is found in the classical logic argument form modus ponendo ponens (Latin for mode that affirms by affirming), which takes the form: "If P, then Q. P. Therefore, Q." According to this explanation, in order to be correct and logically convincing without misinterpreting, you must "mind your p's and q's." However, once again, this explanation does not fit with the contextual meaning of the phrase in question, and is therefore probably not a valid origin.

Another explanation is from the French court, where courtiers were told when entering court and bowing to the King to "Mind their feet (pieds) and wig (queues)". The feet as their sheath may entangle as they bow, and their wigs might become dislodged... Watch how they bow in costume drama.