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From: kriha_p@actrix.gen.nz (Paul J. Kriha)
Subject: Re: Burning Houses for Nails]
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Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 14:30:39 GMT
References: <4e90tp$82k@decaxp.harvard.edu> <dlawsonDLsqH9.Cuy@netcom.com> <4es0ol$2ie@nezsdc.fujitsu.co.nz> <4f3ved$2ic4@news.doit.wisc.edu> <4f6eog$ent@gazette.tandem.com> <kremeDMEFHI.969@netcom.com> <373733962wnr@kindness.demon.co.uk>
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In article <373733962wnr@kindness.demon.co.uk>,
   Colin Fine <colin@kindness.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article: <kremeDMEFHI.969@netcom.com>  kreme@netcom.com (Cerebus The 
>Aardvark) writes:
>> Some others with obscure/unknow origns are:
>> 
>> "Mind your p's and q's."  My favorite orign story on this one was that 
>> it originated in pups, where the barman would keep track of people's 
>> tabs by marking the number of pints and quarts consumed.  However, no 
>> one has been able to verify this story, and it seems odd, given a pint 
>> is half a quart.  Why not measure just in pints?
>
>I don't think quarts have ever been used to measure beer, at least in 
>this country. (In fact I'm not sure what they have been used for - I 
>certainly learnt as a child that 2 pints made a quart, but I can't 
>remember ever having seen the measure used. Of course we've got a 
>sensible-sized pint here ;-))

Obviously one of the drinks they were serving at that bar was milk.

[...]

Paul JK.
