Joe Burns, Ph.D..-.And Remember: Mind your Ps and Qs! No matter which history of the term you give, someone has a different one they proclaim is correct. There are two that are most often stated as being the correct history. One is that Ps and Qs stood for pints and quarts. Barkeeps would keep a tab of drinks by marking P and Q down on a sheet. So, to mind your Ps and Qs was to keep an eye on what you drank. Tell that to someone. More than likely you'll get that that is wrong. He or she will most likely tell you the term came from early printing whereas the letters were placed, one by one into a plate that was then loaded into a press. The problem was that all the letters were backwards so they would print correctly on the paper. To mind the Ps and Qs was to make sure the correct letter was being used. Those are just the big two. Another is that the term is a shortened version of "Mind your Please and Thank-you" used in order to remind children to be polite. What about the theory that is came from the French? The term might have been from dance suggesting to students to mind their figures pieds and queues. I actually found seven different theories in just a quick look around.