Mind your P's and Q's?

Posted by Anthony Brewer on November 02, 2002

In Reply to: Mind your P's and Q's? posted by Stan on October 30, 2002

: "Mind your P's and Q's." Can someone please tell me what this means and where it originated? Thank you!

This is the first time I have posted to a forum, I'm so excited. LOL. Anyway.
I have never read anything about this particular phrase, however, I always took it to mean, along with "behave properly", to also mean "be careful". Now I base this on my simple dedution that "p" and "q" are mirror images of each other "pq", thus "be careful" not to mix them up.
I could be wrong (it would be my second time, LOL)but it always made sense to me.
Thx for your time. Tony

• Mind your P's and Q's? Bruce Kahl 11/02/02