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Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mind your ps and qs’.
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My Modern Job in the Past
Words I come across at work.
Now stripped of most military terms, which have found a new home on the list Historical Military Terms of Interest. See also (and add to!) hilarious misspe...chaise-marine, delft, delftware, quince, tympan, cresset, navvy, venn diagram, poop deck, apothecary, heliotrope, millinery and 294 more...
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Three Sheets to the Wind
Common words or phrases of nautical origin that have taken on different or metaphorical meanings. Chained_bear and I tossed a coin over who would make the list. I won (or lost, depending on how you...
scuttlebutt, taken aback, brass monkey, boot camp, clean bill of health, three sheets to t..., the devil to pay, between the devil..., by and large, the whole nine yards, mind your ps and qs, slush fund and 116 more...
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dontcry Pints and quarts is what I've always heard -- then again, I might have spent more time in pubs than most folks... Jul 6, 2008
reesetee That's what I'd always heard too, c_b. Apparently no one knows for certain where the phrase originated, but one of the stories is that it was once a nautical saying. I think I mentioned on the list page that some of these may or may not have true nautical origins. :-)
Just for fun, here's a rundown of where people believe this phrase came from. I've actually read some others, too, while making my list. Dec 2, 2007
chained_bear I haven't heard that this was of nautical origin--actually only that it was said to (and of) printers' apprentices, who had difficulty telling apart the two letters in the type case (because they are backwards) and needed to pay careful attention in order to set the type properly. Dec 1, 2007