| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 489.1 | Please and Thankyou ? | RDGENG::SPEIGHT | Alan Speight, REO-F7, DTN 830-4639 | Thu Mar 03 1988 17:05 | 11 |
| Your explanation may be true.
When I asked my Mother to explain this one (circa 1957 in Yorkshire)
she said it meant "Remember to say please when asking for something and
thankyou after it was supplied."
Thus "Mind your p's and q's" would be the last exhortation before
going to tea at a schoolfriends house or similar social event as
a child.
Alan.
|
| 489.2 | typesetting | CLT::ZEHNGUT | | Thu Mar 03 1988 17:57 | 8 |
| I learned that the phrase comes from the typesetting profession.
When type is set by hand, it can be difficult to distinguish lowercase
'p' from lowercase 'q' because they are so similar in appearance.
I think the phrase has several possible sources, though.
Marc
|
| 489.3 | ABA => already been answered | TLE::SAVAGE | Neil, @Spit Brook | Thu Mar 03 1988 18:46 | 5 |
| If you'll (re)read notes 411.87 through 411.97 you find that this
question has already been discussed and answered. An article in
the 1987 OFA strongly sides with typesetting origin. If a printer
ran short of one lowercase character he ofter went looking in another
drawer for one that closely resembled it when turned 180 degrees.
|
| 489.4 | Am I misunderstanding something? | PSTJTT::TABER | Eunuchs are a trademark of AT&T | Mon Mar 07 1988 19:52 | 12 |
| > An article in
> the 1987 OFA strongly sides with typesetting origin. If a printer
> ran short of one lowercase character he ofter went looking in another
> drawer for one that closely resembled it when turned 180 degrees.
Huh? I used to hand-set type, and that doesn't make any sense. A "p"
turned 180� is "d" and a "q" is a "b." Not that they'd line up, of
course. I could see if the allegation was that apprentices might sort
them improperly, but I can't see that one can be substituted for the
other. They'd be more likely to grab a letter out of a different font
than to try and make one pass as another.
>>>==>PStJTT
|
| 489.5 | Yep, a "p" is "d" and a "q" is a "b." | TLE::SAVAGE | Neil, @Spit Brook | Wed Mar 09 1988 17:31 | 8 |
| Re: .4:
As merely a reader and not a typesetter you obviously know more than I
do. But, yes your explaination precisely follows that of the OFA
article: the typesetter supposedly runs out of lowercase Ds and Bs long
before the Ps and Qs are used up and tries to get the substitute
letters to line up as closely as possible. If you say it can't be
done then maybe the OFA is giving out misinformation.
|
| 489.6 | | PSTJTT::TABER | Eunuchs are a trademark of AT&T | Wed Mar 09 1988 20:11 | 14 |
| > -< Yep, a "p" is "d" and a "q" is a "b." >-
Ah. Then I was misunderstanding. I thought you were saying that since a
"p" is a "q" rotated 180� around the descender, printers would try to
sub one for the other (which can't be done.)
I don't know what the OFA is, and I don't want to call anyone a liar. I
just know that you couldn't get print to line up if you turned the type
180�, and everyone I know that has been in the situation of needing a
letter they'd run out of grabs one from some other (not too different)
font. There's even a special name for letters that are pressed into
service like that, but I can't remember what it is.
>>>==>PStJTT
|
| 489.7 | a suggestion or two | VIA::RANDALL | back in the notes life again | Wed Mar 09 1988 21:36 | 8 |
| You say there's even a name for letters that are pressed into service
like that, but you can't remember what it is?
Are you perhaps looking for "draftees"????
Or the more formal "conscripts"???
--bonnie
|