The Behind The Bar Origins Of Minding Your Ps And Qs

There are enough of English language phrases we don't sympathise. Sorry, don't mean "English language." We mean "English English," like in Austin Powers. Some are more or less familiar. "Bob'southward your uncle," basically significant "Ta-da," or "voila, all's good!" "Knackered," significant wearied. "Taking the piss," pregnant—chill—making fun of something.

But so there's that "Listen your Ps and Qs" expression that at to the lowest degree we pretend to understand. Information technology's gotta exist something about "being conscientious or attentive," right? Since you're minding something? The basic definitions involve manners. According to the Oxford Dictionaries blog, to be "on your Ps and Qs" ways to exist "on your best behavior." So to "mind your Ps and Qs" would presumably hateful to mind those things that determine the goodness of your behavior.

There'due south also a story that says minding one's "ps and qs" is something adults would say to children—who presumably got it wrong when trying to figure out which side of the circle to put the "tail" on.

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Our favorite possibility, of course, is the one in which "minding your Ps and Qs" stands for "mind your pints and quarts," substantially communication for any inn- or bar-keep tallying up a guest'south drinks. In the days before keeping a tab, or paying immediately as the hugely muscled bartender stares directly at you, bartenders would often keep a chalk tally of the number of pints or quarts of ale a client had consumed.

Since a quart is 2 times bigger than a pint, "publicans had to brand sure to marking up the quart drinks as distinct from the pint drinks."

According to most sources, this is one of the least well-founded explanations every bit the basis for the phrase. Which is surprising, considering how securely people care about how much they pay for booze compared to the relative consequences of a miswritten "q."

Header image via Bikeworldtravel / Shutterstock.com

Published: Apr 4, 2016