Mind Your P’s and Q’s

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Carmen calling from Royce City, Texas.

Hi, Carmen.

Hi, Carmen. Welcome to the program.

Oh, thank you.

What can we do for you?

Well, I had a question.

I’ve heard this expression several times. I understand what it means, but I would like to know what it comes from. What’s the history behind it?

It’s minding your P’s and Q’s.

Minding your P’s and Q’s.

Now, where have you heard that, Carmen?

I’ve heard people mention it like when somebody was getting out of line or, you know, making, you know, acting, you know, behaving in a way it shouldn’t be right. You know, they say, hey, mind your P’s and Q’s.

Why P’s and Q’s?

Why P’s and Q’s?

Right.

Well, let me ask you something, Carmen. Is English your first language?

No, it’s not.

And your first language is?

Spanish.

Spanish.

Okay.

Spain Spanish or Latin American Spanish?

No, Spain Spanish.

I’m native of Barcelona, Spain.

Okay.

Yeah, you said it a little bit like Penelope. That’s why. Except I think I hear a bit of a Texas accent in there, too. Have you been in Texas?

I’ve been here for 20 years.

So, you know, I’m hoping something is bigger.

What a nice combination that is.

Yeah, yeah, it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful.

Well, I was going to say that as far as mind your P’s and Q’s go, don’t feel bad because native speakers of English are just as puzzled as you are. The truth is we don’t know where this expression comes from. No idea. 400 years on the record and nobody knows.

Right.

Seriously.

That’s interesting.

Yeah.

And a lot of people think they know the origin. There have been all kinds of stories floating around. But not a single one of them has ever turned out to be the definitive etymology.

Some people have talked about back in the days of printing when you used individual little pieces of type to print things, that printers were told to distinguish between the P’s and the Q’s because those letters look so similar. But you’d have to wonder, for one thing, why they weren’t told to distinguish between the P’s and the Q’s and the D’s and the B’s.

Right.

Because they all look alike.

There’s another story about in taverns, the bartender would chalk up P’s and Q’s, meaning pints and quarts, to keep track of how much the patrons had been drinking.

Who drinks a quart of beer at a time? Or a quart of gin for that matter?

Be free yourself, Grant.

Okay.

No, but there have been so many other stories that I won’t even go into. That it might come from French, and it might come from this, and it might come from that. Or nautical origins, all this, but nobody else. Let’s just round them all up and say phooey.

I’m wondering, Carmen, is there something analogous in Spanish? I mean, I know there’s an expression that means to dot your eyes, but is there anything like this in Spanish?

Well, I mean, it’s interesting for a non-native speaker. What I found with the language that is more challenging is not so much speaking it correctly for the most part. You know, most people can get away with that. But it’s the expression. It’s the slang that really gets you.

I mean, first time I started working, I was working in an office. Our tables were really close to the entrance. And one day I came in, and apparently I didn’t close the door all the way, and somebody looked back and said, are you born in a barn? And I thought, man, what an odd thing to ask. You know? He said, well, no. Okay? He said, well, close the door. And after a whole day, I kept thinking, that was the weirdest exchange of information I’ve ever heard anybody. You know, so things like that, you know, really happen all the time.

And there’s some other expressions, even though you understand what they mean, for somebody that hasn’t heard them all their life, they can be right down gory. Like, you know, I want to pick your brain or, you know, keep an eye out. Those, you know, I understand what they mean, but, you know, the visuals that you get when you’re not, you haven’t grown with those.

So there’s a lot of expressions that are similar, but the funny thing is when you translate them, they completely, they look so different from each point of view. Like, in English, you have that, you know, people get on your nerves when you don’t like them. In Spanish, if I translate the Spanish translation expression straight into English, it’s somebody falls on you fat. It makes no sense to you guys, but it comes to be like the same thing. They suffocate you when it comes to, you know.

They fall on you fat?

Yes.

What is the Spanish?

Me caen gordos.

You know, now, you say that in Spanish. And to somebody in Spain, they completely understand right away what you mean. And I guess, you know, it comes from somebody will sit on your chest like that, you know, suffocates. You just be feeling you get with people that get on your nerves.

Sure.

That’s fantastic.

So there’s a lot of that going on. I’ve got most of them. You know, people will make same expressions in front of me, and I can understand them. You know, I can even use them myself. Sometimes I get them a little mixed up. But that one, that P’s and Q’s, you know, the first time I heard it, it’s like, why a P and why a T?

Exactly.

You know, it was.

We have no idea. Sorry about that, but I’ve got to tell you, you are the most entertaining person I’ve talked to in a long time.

Oh, no problem.

And your English is exquisite, so don’t worry about it at all.

Oh, thank you very much.

Well, Carmen, thank you so much for giving us a call today.

Thank you, guys.

Okay, ciao.

Take care of yourself. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Are you a foreign speaker of English? Is there an idiom that has you stumped? We’ll help you with it. Or not. Or not. But we’d love to talk about it. 1-877-929-9673 or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.