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Show oBionr or Air old saw. ' Several explanations have,, been given of the original of the phrase. "Mind your P's and u s. '-says the Dietetic and Hy- Renle Gssetta. One Is that It Is derived oro an alehouse oa which- waa written P and Q that Is, pint and quart against tns name of each customsr, according ac-cording to the quantity which he had drunk, to he paid when the wages wsrs given on Saturday night Another explanation Is that the sentence sen-tence originally was "Mind your toupees and queues." Ths toupee was sn artificial arti-ficial lock of hair and the queue the pig-tall pig-tall of olden time. A riddle used to be In varus ss follows: fol-lows: "Who Is the beet person to keep the alphabet In order? Answer A barber, bar-ber, becsuee he ties up the queues and puts toupees In Irons.'' Charlss Knight gives ths most plausible plaus-ible sxplanatlon, as follows: ... always thought that the phrase Mind your P's and Q's waa derived from the schoolroom or ths printing office. Ths forms of ths small P's and Q's In ths Roman type have always been pus-sllng pus-sllng to ths child and the printer's apprentice. ap-prentice. In the on the downward stroke Is en ths left of the oval; la ths other, on the right. Now. when the types are reversed, as they are whea in the process of distribution, distribu-tion, they are returned by toe compositor composi-tor to his ease, the mind of the young printer Is puss led to dlstlns-ulak. the P from the Q. la sorting pi. or a mixed heap of letters, where the and Q are not In connection with any other Letter farming a word. I think It would be almost al-most lm possible for an Inexperlenoed per-?n per-?n to distinguish which la which upon the Instant." |