# Keep it on the Q.T.????

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-it-on-the-q-t/38628>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 27, 2000, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-it-on-the-q-t/38628 "2000-10-27T17:52:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-it-on-the-q-t/38628/1 "2000-10-27T17:52:05Z")

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This came up in a discussion **sledman** and I were having while enjoying a few beers after our volleyball match last night.

Where does the term “keep it on the Q.T.” as in keep it quiet, or secret, come from? What do the Q and the T stand for?

I suspect it is from the military, based on its usage, but that’s my best guess.

(I really figured to find this in a search of the board or the archive, but came up with nothing.)

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**Author:** ![cmetzb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@cmetzb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmetzb)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-it-on-the-q-t/38628/2 "2000-10-27T18:48:12Z")

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This is not much help but I got it from the Askjeeves site.

“Q.T.” certainly looks as though it be the initial letters of two words, every slang authority seems to agree that its origin is simply the first and last letters of the word “quiet.”

The only really surprising thing about “Q.T.” is how long it’s been around. The earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary for “Q.T.” is from 1884, in the common form “on the strict q.t.,” which is also found in James Joyce’s “Ulysses” of 1922.

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**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-it-on-the-q-t/38628/3 "2000-10-27T19:16:12Z")

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Of course, one would be remiss if one didn’t reference Robin Williams:

“Excuse me, sir, seeing as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn’t we keep it on the QT, because if it leaks to the VC, he could end up MIA, then we’d all be on KP.”

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**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-it-on-the-q-t/38628/4 "2000-10-27T22:04:54Z")

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The info **cmetzb** got from Askjeeves comes from [this](http://www.word-detective.com/070698.html#qt) WordDetecive article.