Generations of children have heard it from parents and teachers: "Mind your p's and q's." We all know it means behave yourself and watch your manners. But why those two letters? Why not your a's and b's, or your x's and y's?
Here's the honest answer: nobody knows for certain, and people have argued about it since at least the mid-1800s. The Oxford English Dictionary long listed the origin as unknown. But its researchers later found early examples where "Ps and Qs" meant learning the alphabet, and word expert Michael Quinion concluded that this is most likely the true origin. The famous tavern story, about pints and quarts, is just one of many unproven theories.
The Schoolroom Explanation
Think about the lowercase letters p and q. They're nearly mirror images: a circle with a line on one side or the other. The same goes for b and d. For young children learning to read and write, or for printers setting type by hand, mixing them up was easy. Children also had to remember that p comes before q in the alphabet.
When the Oxford English Dictionary revised its entry in 2007, researchers found a poem by Charles Churchill published in 1763 that mentions teaching someone "His As and Bs, and Ps and Qs." That use is all about basic letters. A writer in 1876 even pointed out that the phrase only makes sense with lowercase letters, since capital P and Q look nothing alike.
The Tavern Theory
The most colorful explanation comes from English pubs and taverns of the 1600s. According to this story, bartenders kept an eye on the pints and quarts each customer drank, marking them on a slate. Telling patrons to "mind their Ps and Qs" was a reminder to watch their tab, or perhaps a reminder to the bartender not to mix up the two.
It's a fun picture, and it may be why so many people repeat it. But no one has shown that the phrase actually came from taverns. A related folk tale claims Scottish pints and quarts were much bigger than English ones, so drinkers had to pay close attention.
Even More Guesses
There's no shortage of other ideas. One says "Ps and Qs" is short for "pleases" and "thank-yous," since the end of "thank you" sounds like the letter Q. Another says French dancing masters warned students to mind their pieds and queues, their feet and wigs, though no such French saying is known.
Some say sailors were told to watch their peacoats and their queues, or ponytails. Another idea points to medieval England, when people had to watch their language around Norman French speakers. There was even a 17th-century expression, "pee and kew," meaning top quality, found in a 1612 text about a quart of wine.
Why the Phrase Stuck Around
Whatever its origin, the phrase has stayed popular because it's so handy. It can mean "mind your manners," "watch your language," "be on your best behavior," or just "pay attention to what you're doing." It works at the dinner table and at the office alike.
So the next time you tell a grandchild to mind their p's and q's, you can add a little lesson of your own. The phrase probably started in the schoolroom, where getting two tricky little letters right was the first step to doing things properly.
