The alt.usage.english FAQ   

• "mind your p's and q's"

  (Phrase Origins)
  
  

  
     This expression, meaning "be very careful to behave correctly",
  has been in use from the 17th century on.  Theories include:  an
  admonishment to children learning to write; an admonishment to
  typesetters (who had to look at the letters reversed); an
  admonishment to seamen not to soil their navy pea-jackets with
  their tarred "queues" (pigtails); "mind your pints and quarts";
  "mind your prices and quality"; "mind your pieds and queues"
  (either feet and pigtails, or two dancing figures that had to be
  accurately performed); the substitution of /p/ for "qu" /kw/ in the
  speech of uneducated ancient Romans; or the confusion by students
  learning both Latin and Ancient Greek of such cognates as _pente_
  and _quintus_.  And yes, we've heard the joke about the instruction
  to new sextons:  "Mind your keys and pews."
  
     The most plausible explanation is the one given in the latest
  edition of Collins English Dictionary:  an alteration of "Mind
  your 'please's and 'thank you's".

  
  
  Source: [Mark Israel, 'Phrase Origins: "mind your p's and q's"', The alt.usage.english FAQ file,(line 5082), (29 Sept 1997)]
  
  
  
  

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