P's and Q's, 1756...

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/18/2009 03:42 PM, Alison Murie wrote:
>Is it only old printers who think the phrase comes from the printshop?
>If you've ever distributed type into its case, you can easily believe
>that.

I can believe that, having been told so by my teacher when I learned
to set type in junior high school.  But who am I to say?  I'm 20th
century (an "old printer"?); the article I cited is 1836, and nearer
to the coiner's mouth!  :-)

Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org