Happy birthday Miss Ayelery.
Here’s an Apple for your desktop. I know you will display it proudly and prominently.
Now that we have spellcheck, I’ll take my chances and wish her a frightfully joyous birthday as well.
(Can the spellcheck do grammar as well?)
finally, a birthday thread that really matters in this despondent genre.
Why thank you dear; that is very sweet. In addition to the rainbow of colors, I like that the apple has a bite out of it. My motto has always been “Go for it, but go for it with good grammar!”. Biting the apple represents the original “go for it” ideal.
As well as what dear?
That is very nice of you to say. I am certainly feeling my years today, and the kind thoughts help.
MA
I’m sorry I missed your birthday, bitch.
Happy Birthday.
Why thank you dear, and I might add that you’re certainly doing New Jersey proud with your fine command of the pejorative.
MA
Is it true that minding your Ps and Qs dates back to olde pubs where the publican would call out ‘Mind your Pints and Quarts!’ before wiping down the bar-counter?
Well dear, there are actually a number of theories on where this expression came from.
According to the alt.usage.english FAQ:
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.
As someone who has enjoyed her distilled and fermented beverages for many decades, I’m tempted to go with your theory. But as a pragmatist, I have to ask: If quarts were available, why the hell would anyone have a pint on the bar? Basic logic and human nature quickly step in to undermine that explanation.
As a lifetime grammarian, ex-typesetter, and current amatuer and former professional proofreader, I have to go with the “hot lead” theory. Mistakes were costly. It’s summed up pretty well here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~thereactor/reactor990714.html
If you search the web, you’ll find the odd amateur chimes in as well:
http://www.sellingstrategies.com/articles/02_03_mind_your_p_and_q.htm
But in the end, I think the key takeaway is this dear: whether you’re a professional drinker, typesetter, or radio personality, don’t pretend you don’t know what it means. Mind them!!!
Cause some people couldn’t afford them/didn’t want them?
Yes, of course you’re right dear, although I had intended it as a rhetorical question and joke. Clearly I didn’t succeed on either front.
I would also like to apologize to all readers of this thread. I’m ashamed of my potty mouth; there was no reason for me to curse. I guess I really was feeling my age. Birthdays just aren’t the joyful celebrations they were when I was younger.
MA
You should be. Every time you open it.
uni57 had a very bad experience with an English teacher during primary school and still harbors repressed aggression about it.
our idea was something close to that…
yeah… close to that…
I too had a simillar experience, except it wasn’t with an English teacher, and it wasn’t during primary school, and I don’t still harbor repressed aggression about it. 
No, she’s just a mean old hag who likes to act all prim and proper as she criticizes everybody. I’ve never met her, yet I can hear her irritating voice and see her prissy mannerisms every time she posts.
I was going to send her a Private Message love letter, but she does not accept PMs.
LOL, hold on now! Just because John said it doesn’t make it true! Your post would be fine if you took out the word “too”.
For the record, I never had a bad experience with my beloved English teachers. Or math teachers.
but what about those PE teachers?
I just imagine her speaking like GILD and with a male voice. I don’t have the problems you do with her voice and mannerisms.
Old hag? But your profile says you’re 95? Maybe we should learn the lesson that people may not be quite as they appear on the fora in real life?
I didn’t think GILD’s voice sounded at all feminine.