Print Lingo: Ps and Qs

No matter how much we say we hate it, jargon is a part of our lives, whether we like it or not. Many of our English jargon can be traced back to the printing business. Take for example the idiomatic phrase we pretend to understand: minding your Ps and Qs. 

Definition 

Because you’re “minding” something, this phrase has to mean “be careful or attentive”, right? The basic definitions of this phrase involve manners and good behavior. According to the Oxford Dictionaries blog, “on your Ps and Qs” means to be “on your best behavior” or “on one’s toes.” 

So to “mind your Ps and Qs” would mean mind your manners. 

Theory 1: Typesetting 

This phrase can be attributed to typesetting practices in nineteenth-century print shops. Setting type meant placing each individual letter backward, so when the inked type was pressed into the paper, the mirrored image read forward. 

Obviously, this required a great amount of focus from the print shop workers, called compositors, who set the type. Particularly when setting certain letters that look alike, a lowercase “p” and “q” basically look the same. They were also set right next to each other in segregated sections, begging to be mixed up. 

That’s why we say “mind your Ps and Qs” and not “mind your Bs and Ds” which weren’t by each other in the type case.

Theory 2: ‘Let’s Drink’ 

A more entertaining possibility of this phrases’ origin is one where “minding your Ps and Qs” stands in for “minding your pints and quarts.” In the days before keeping a tab, or paying immediately while the muscled bartender stares directly at you, bartenders kept a chalk tally of the number of pints or quarts of alcohol a customer consumed. As a quart is twice as large as a pint, the bartenders had to mark the two different sizes distinctly. 

In 1607, the playwright Thomas Dekker published a play called Westward Hoe. It contains the line: “At her p. and q. neither Marchantes daughter, Aldermans wife, young countrey Gentle-woman, nor Courtiers Mistris, can match her.”
This line refers to the amount the drinker can put away (hint, a lot). While the “pints and quarts” theory is plausible and fun, even the OED admits that it can “neither be substantiated nor dismissed.”

So, next time you’re out drinking, tell your friends to mind their Ps and Qs.