Thread: Are native Russian speakers 'language snobs' or tolerant?

Originally Posted by Hanna

Marcus is somthing of a Russian language snob, I think.....
One should mind one's ps and qs in any statement in front of him, I think!!
I have been corrected several times by Marcus when nobody else bothered.

What is ps and qs?
Actually you have asked for corrections - "Пожалуйста, исправьте мои ошибки!". I'm not a snob, but I'm interested in Russian language. I'm not against being corrected myself at all.
And this site is for learning Russian, isn't it?

Originally Posted by Marcus

What is ps and qs?
Actually you have asked for corrections - "Пожалуйста, исправьте мои ошибки!". I'm not a snob, but I'm interested in Russian language. I'm not against being corrected myself at all.
And this site is for learning Russian, isn't it?

Sorry, you misunderstood me, I was joking! It was a silly joke though, since you got annoyed. Sorry!

But you are VERY interested in linguistics and language related matters, aren't you? Most of the time, I can't follow what you write about linguistics, even in English... I just don't know all that terminology. It must be very specialised.

Minding ps and qs means speaking properly, behaving properly. Not making grammatical mistakes or speaking slang.

What is ps and qs?...

'Ps and qs' originally comes from English pubs. It comes from "mind your ps and qs" => mind your pints and quarts.

Something like pay attention to your bar bill, the account at the pub. Ps and qs (pints and quarts) is the tabulation of outstanding drinks not payed for, for a particular patron. Pints and quarts of beer, ale etc. Means be upstanding, fully accounted for, responsible.

Originally Posted by Seraph

'Ps and qs' originally comes from English pubs. It comes from "mind your ps and qs" => mind your pints and quarts.

Something like pay attention to your bar bill, the account at the pub. Ps and qs (pints and quarts) is the tabulation of outstanding drinks not payed for, for a particular patron. Pints and quarts of beer, ale etc. Means be upstanding, fully accounted for, responsible.

there's a host of other explanations on the WIKI

Mind your Ps and Qs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia