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Mind your P's and Q's

Did a little wiki search to refresh my memory, for the exact meaning of P's and Q's.

While, one explanation was that it stands for 'P-lease' and 'Thank you', the thank you makes the 'Q' sound hence that, while there was another interesting one which said that in the pubs and taverns of the 17th century, bartenders would keep a watch on the alcohol consumption by the patrons - 'Pints' and 'Quarts', hence Mind your P's and Q's.

When I read the second line, the first thought that came to my mind was, "Wow! Concept of pubs was that old?". Well I soon realized that my focus was shifting, so came back to the first explanation.

WHAT is with PEOPLE these days?

Where are the days when courtesies in general and social courtesies in particular, were given utmost importance?

Only and only for this reason I somehow don't appreciate the invasion of mobile phones in our lives.

Earlier, when there was only the landline, I remember people answering the phone with a very courteous 'hello', as they didn't know who the caller was. Now on the other hand, the name of the person flashes, on the mobile screen, and we either say, "haan bolo', or "Yeah, tell me". The soothing hello how are you? the smile in our tone has just disappeared. Sometimes, we also grumble when we see the name of the caller, and we go ahead and talk like that only.

Wishing people on their birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions like a house warming, naming ceremony, baby shower etc was fun, you could visualize the person talking with a smile on their face, as you could hear it.

These days first of all, calling up people and wishing them has taken a back seat, thanks to SMS's which have made people more lazy, and some of them who still take the effort to write a nice sms, the response from the other side is 'Tx' or 'tks'. How irritating is that? Are you busier than the President that you don't have few seconds to write, a heartfelt thank you message? On facebook, people write, 'hpy b'day' and the replies are the same 'tx', how difficult is it to write HAPPY BIRTHDAY or HAPPY ANNIVERSARY?

Not to forget the other category, who whenever you call, will ask you the same question, "anything important" "anything urgent?" And you are speechless, because you call up a person as you miss them, or probably felt like talking them, enquiring about them, their kids etc.. And this they ask everytime they answer the phone.

"Anything urgent?" Yes my house is on fire, can you share the fire dousing tips? will be my reply to anyone who answers my call with those two words. Why can't you greet the caller first, and then politely tell them, that you are a  little busy.

Neighbours drop in to your house, you make them stand outside and talk, what happened to the courtesy of calling them in? Its a known person, not a stranger.

And, then these are the same people who are ready to give lectures on courtesies, practice what you preach darlings, how are you gonna teach your kids?

"Sorry" "Please" "Thank you" were Barney's magical words, which have 'magically' vanished! Sigh!

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