<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Look up mind one's ps and qs in Wiktionary, the free dictionary . </Td> </Tr> <P> Mind your Ps and Qs is an English language expression meaning "mind your manners", "mind your language", "be on your best behaviour" or similar . </P> <P> Attempts at explaining the origin of the phrase go back to the mid-19th century . One explanation favoured in a letter to the editors of Notes and Queries dated 1851, as well as by the Oxford English Dictionary upon their revision of the relevant entry in 2007, is literal interpretation of the saying, concerning the distinction of the lowercase letters p and q in the context of the school - room or the printing - office . </P> <P> According to Michael Quinion, "(i) nvestigations by the Oxford English Dictionary in 2007 when revising the entry turned up early examples of the use of Ps and Qs to mean learning the alphabet . The first is in a poem by Charles Churchill, published in 1763: "On all occasions next the chair / He stands for service of the Mayor, / And to instruct him how to use / His A's and B's, and P's and Q's ." The conclusion must be that this is the true origin ." </P>

Origins of phrase mind your p's and q's