Mind one’s Ps and Qs

Origin of: Mind one’s Ps and Qs

Mind one’s Ps and Qs

In Britain, this admonishment is to mind one’s manners, whereas in America it can also mean to be alert and on top of one’s form. While the meaning is straightforward, its origin is a minefield of conflicting and competing stories. To start at the very beginning, the phrase is first cited in 1602, in a play by Thomas Dekker, 'The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet', where the context indicates that ‘a pee and kue’ (Dekker’s original spelling) is an item of clothing. 'Pee', now obsolete, is first attested from the 1400s and meant a coat or cloak of coarse cloth, and is now only current in the form of 'pea jacket', a short jacket once commonly worn by sailors. To confuse matters further, Dekker used the phrase five years later in another play, this time with the spelling 'p and q'. From the context, it is not clear whether he is referring to clothing or not. The next citation, quoted by the OED, is from a book called Knave of Hearts by Samuel Rowlands in 1612, “Bring in a quart of Maligo, right true: and looke, you rogue, that it be pee and kew.” The context here is clearly not clothing but refers to a beverage of some kind and the phrase ‘pee and kew’ is presumably saying something about its quality. This has prompted some etymologists to maintain that P and Q stands for ‘prime quality’. If P and Q is an acronym for 'prime quality', it seems very odd to place the word ‘and’ into the middle of it. Acronyms normally do not work that way. Moreover, 'PQ' is easier to say and easier to remember than ‘P and Q’. The ‘prime quality’ theory, therefore, is very dubious indeed. So many other theories have been put forward about the origin of Ps and Qs that one can only list them numerically: Theory No.1 - an admonishment to children learning to write because lower-case p and q can easily be inverted. But so can b and d. So why not mind your Bs and D’s instead of your P's and Q's? 'Bs and Ds' also rhymes, making it easier for children to remember. Theory No.2 - similar to No. 1, except that the admonishment is directed at typesetters in the printing trade, but the same foregoing comments apply. Theory No. 3 - a tally kept by proprietors of taverns, where Ps and Qs are 'pints' and 'quarts' of ale. How pints and quarts of ale then became associated with manners is left unexplained. Theory No. 4 - there has to a nautical one; P's and Q's are supposedly an admonishment to sailors not to spoil their 'pea jackets' with 'greasy queues' or pigtails. This one is far-fetched to say the least. Theory No. 5 - another admonishment to children to mind their 'please’s' and 'thank you’s' where P is for please and Q is presumably an abbreviation for thank you, or perhaps 'thank Q'. Hardly a great way to educate children about the alphabet and spelling, one would think. Theory No.6 - is about teaching children the alphabet. A citation from 1763 states that children learning the alphabet should mind their ‘As and Bs and their Ps and Qs’. A re-investigation by the OED in 2007 for the origin of Ps and Qs favours this last theory, but it still remains dubious why P and Q should be specifically selected out of all the letters in the alphabet. Truth be told, the origin of P's and Q's remains obscure and unresolved.