Graywolf,
I'm suprised you don't know the origin of that phrase, especially
since you mention about your childhood from way back when ;-)
Seriously, the phrase comes from an old printers warning from
when we were using non-movable type to print newspapers, etc. Think
about putting in each individual letter into a plate by hand . . .
each letter of course was a stamp that was reversed as if it were
held in a mirror. Minding your p's and q's referred to the lowercase
version of each letter. Since they look like each other, only in
reverse they were commonly swapped . . . if the mistake was caught in
the first test print, there was ALLOT of work to be done to fix the
stray letter.
IL Bill
On Oct 23, 2005, at 10:26 AM, graywolf wrote:
Which brings up something I have been worrying about since early
childhood, just what in the hell are "P's and Q's"?
graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
-----------------------------------
frank theriault wrote:
On 10/22/05, P. J. Alling <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Ok, Frank, I was getting tired of it anyway...
well you just mind your p's and q's in the future. and fra, if
you're
listening, this applies to you, too!
-frank, having traumatic childhood flashbacks as we speak
--
"Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
