What Is The Origin Of (145)?…
Mind your Ps and Qs
When I was a child I was occasionally told to mind my ps and qs, by which my parents meant that I had better behave properly and mind my manners. I instinctively knew what was meant – after all, I had probably committed some misdemeanour or social faux-pas – but over time it began to dawn on me that it was a rather odd phrase. I had always taken it as an abbreviation for the phrase “mind your pleases and thankyous” which has the virtue of reflecting the modern usage. However, as is often the case in the shady world of etymology, not all is at it may seem.
What first sowed seeds of doubt on my understanding of the phrase’s origin was Francis Grose’s definition in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, published in 1785; “to mind one’s Ps and Qs – to be attentive to the main chance.” Someone who is on the look-out to gain an advantage isn’t necessarily a person whose manners are impeccable.
And if we delve back into the 17th century there were variants of the phrase – p and q or pee and kew – which were slang expressions for superior or, at least, better quality. The Oxford English Dictionary cites a line from Samuel Rowland’s Knave of Hearts, dating from 1612, which goes “Bring in a quart of Maligo, right true; And looke, you Rogue, that it be pee and kew.” Theories that the p and q are abbreviations for prime quality founder in trying to explain that pesky conjunction in the middle. Some have suggested that the p and q stand for measures of drink, pints and quarts, but that doesn’t look right in the context of Rowland’s usage.
A slightly earlier variant is to be found in Thomas Dekker’s The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet from 1602. Afinius hands Horace a cloak because it looks as though it is going to rain and goes on to comment, “for now thou art in thy Pee and Kue, thou hast such a villainous broad back.” It would seem that the Pee and Kue is a reference to some form of apparel and some have suggested that the Pee relates to a sailor’s pea coat and the Kue to a queue, a form of pigtail.
Another possibility opens up when you consider a poem by Charles Churchill, written in 1763 which told of the travails associated with learning the alphabet. It goes “on all occasions next the chair/ he stands for service of the Mayor/ and to instruct him how to use/ his As and Bs and Ps and Qs.” Rather like bs and ds, ps and qs can cause the aspiring student some difficulties. They are essentially the mirror image of each other and the neophyte may easily transpose one for the other. For jobs which require text to be read back to front, such as the hot metal typography in old-style printing, the two letters can generate mistakes and an element of caution would need to be exercised.
It is hard to make sense of all of these competing claims. My original supposition – an abbreviation of please and thankyou – is unlikely because it is only independently attested in the 20th century. However, I am attracted to the theory that it relates to the difficulties of learning the alphabet, an admonition which then broadened through use to one of a general warning to exercise caution. It may well be that the 17th century usages have no bearing at all to the phrase we use today, perhaps having a different origin which, alas, is lost in the mists of time.
Filed under: Culture, History Tagged: Charles Churchill, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, Francis Grose, origin of mind your ps and qs, Pee and Kue, The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet, Thomas Dekker
