When was the last time you wrote a note or sent a paper letter? Perhaps it has been a while, but one thing that was commonly found on the bottom was \u201cP.S.\u201d. While you may think of P.S. in the terms of a recent movie, or just something someone says offhand, it has an actual meaning. This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n
P.S. is an abbreviation for postscript. The term means that you have something additional to write or say aside from the main topic. In general, a postscript is written at the bottom portion of a letter or email. It is not intended to be used verbally, however, in modern times many have taken to saying P.S. out loud prior to adding additional commentary.<\/strong><\/p>\n P.S. is the American style of writing postscript, while simply PS will suffice in British English. Both letters should always be capitalized with no spaces, as it is one word. Make sure to always place the PS after your signature line as opposed to within the main body of the text. Post means after, and script stands for the writing, so it is easy to understand that PS means, commentary or thoughts after the script.<\/p>\n Postscript or P.S. was first used in the English language around the start of the 1500s. The term postscript comes from the Latin word postscriptum. It became more commonly used in 1550 as written text became more prolific. Postscripts took the place of rewriting or resending an entire batch of information due to an omission. After all, it can be tiring to write out a four-page letter once, much less twice due to a small detail you forgot to add in. P.S. gained widespread popularity during the early part of the 1600s.<\/p>\n In the past, casual communication via writing was both costly and time-consuming. It was not an activity that was taken on casually, and often, the information that was omitted was of high importance. Thus the use of a postscript came to be needed. Though writing, communication, and even emails have advanced, the PS is still a common part of the English language. It is called different things depending on the medium used. For example, a letter or email will use PS, while a book will use an afterword.<\/p>\nExample Usage<\/h2>\n
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Origin<\/h2>\n