English Expressions: “Mind your P’s and Q’s”

Hello beautiful souls,

Soul – the spiritual part of a person that is believed to give life to the body and in many religions is believed to live forever.

So remember last month we spoke about the origin of “please” and “thank you“? This reminded us of a popular English expression: “Mind your Ps and Qs“. Have you ever heard it?

It means “mind your manners” and is often said to children to remind them to be polite.

It can also be used, specifically, to tell a person to be careful of their language. If, for example. somebody says a rude word in front of an old person or a child, you could say “mind your P’s and Q’s”.

There is no common agreement as to the origin of this phrase – some believe P and Q stands for “pints” and “quarts”, the coins people used to buy drinks in the local tavern. Nowadays many people say it stands for “Please” and “thanK YOU“, or “Please” and “exCUSE me”.

Whichever is the real story, it is a good thing to remember!

Do you have any sayings about being well-mannered in your language or culture?

Vocabulary

Manners – the way that a person normally behaves especially while with other people.

Rude – not having or showing concern or respect for the rights and feelings of other people : not polite.

Phrase – a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence.

Tavern – a place where alcoholic drinks are served.

Coins – a small, flat, and usually round piece of metal issued by a government as money.