Date: Sun, 07 May 2000 15:13:59 -0700 From: Doug Barton <DougB@gorean.org> To: Warner Losh <imp@village.org> Cc: Alexander Langer <alex@big.endian.de>, Satoshi Asami <asami@FreeBSD.ORG>, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: ports INDEX Message-ID: <3915EAA7.3A8C1D3B@gorean.org> References: <20000507211744.D3267@cichlids.cichlids.com> <200005071133.EAA79913@freefall.freebsd.org> <200005071729.LAA71485@harmony.village.org> <200005071924.NAA72800@harmony.village.org>
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Warner Losh wrote:
>
> In message <20000507211744.D3267@cichlids.cichlids.com> Alexander Langer writes:
> : Where do these p's and q's come from? RSA encryption?
>
> Yes. You pick two primes, P and Q, and keep them secret. Once a
> while ago when Satoshi-san committed a prime number I made this
> comment, and a joke got started. With all these primes committed
> lately, I've continued the joke and made a different once too. In the
> US when one is being extra polite, one is said to be minding one's p's
> and q's. I have no clue where this saying came from, but it predates
> the computer age.
There are two competing theories. The more popular is that the saying
came from the old days of english pubs where the keeper would tell the
patrons to mind their "pints and quarts." The more likely comes from the
world of manual typesetting, where p and q look very similar, and are
next to one another in the box.
Doug
--
"Live free or die"
- State motto of my ancestral homeland, New Hampshire
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