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P’s and Q’s

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Mind your P’s and Q’s. Be very circumspect in your behaviour.

Several explanations have been suggested, but none seems to be wholly satisfactory. The following comes nearest to the point of the caution:—In the reign of Louis XIV., when wigs of unwieldy size were worn, and bows were made with very great formality, two things were specially required, a “step” with the feet, and a low bend of the body. In the latter the wig would be very apt to get deranged, and even to fall off. The caution, therefore, of the French dancing-master to his pupils was, “Mind your P’s [i.e. pieds, feet] and Q’s [i.e. queues, wigs].”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Oz. (for ounce)
P
P
P [alliterative]
P.C. (patres conscripti)
P., P.P., P.P.P. (in music)
P.P.C. (pour prendre conge)
P.S. (post-scriptum)
P’s and Q’s
Pabana (The) or Peacock Dance
Pacific Ocean (The)
Packing a Jury
Pacolet
Pactolus
Padding
Paddington Fair
Paddle Your Own Canoe
Paddock
Paddi-whack