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Mind your Ps and Qs is an English language expression meaning "mind your manners," "mind your language," "be on your best behaviour," or "watch what you're doing." Attempts at explaining the origin of the phrase go back to the mid-19th century.
1973: The logic of politeness; or, minding your P's and Q's. In: Papers from the Ninth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society, ed. C. Corum, T. Cedric Smith-Stark, A. Weiser, pp 292–305. Chicago: Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago; 1975: Language and Woman's Place. ISBN 0-19-516757-0
As seen in the photo of the composing stick, a lower case 'q' looks like a 'd', a lower case 'b' looks like a 'p', a lower case 'p' looks like a 'b' and a lower case 'd' looks like a 'q'. This is reputed to be the origin of the expression "mind your p's and q's". It might just as easily have been "mind your b's and d's". [3]
What was your experience with that?" Bristowe asked. ... "I grew up in the generation of child actors where it was, like, mind your 'p's and q's' and be eloquent and put together [and] polished ...
"mind your Ps and Qs" meaning "mind your manners" is quite obviously from "mind your pleases and thank-yous". It is parental baby talk, mimicking the child's simplification of consonant groups in "please" and simply contracting in "thank-you", which latter the plays of Bernard Shaw for example render simply as "Kew".
The Greek phrase πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια, appearing in St. Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, is usually translated as "mind your own business". [1] [2] The first coin that was minted and officially circulated by the United States, the Fugio Cent, displays the words “Mind Your Business” on the obverse. [3]
Think about it like this: If you’re running, you’ll get a completely different workout if you’re letting your mind wander than if you’re completely concentrating on your form. “Focus on ...
APA style requires the use of italics instead of an apostrophe: ps, ns, etc. [70] In the phrase dos and don'ts , most modern style guides disparage spelling the first word as do's . However, there is a lack of consensus and certainly the use of an apostrophe continues, legitimately, in which "the apostrophe of plurality occurs in the first word ...