mind [OE] English mind shares its ancient root with Latin mens ‘mind’, from which demented [M16th], mental [LME], and mention [ME] derive. The mind can do many wonderful things, including ‘boggling’. The phrase the mind boggles, meaning that someone becomes astonished or overwhelmed at the thought of something, is first recorded in the 1890s. Boggle [L16th] ‘be startled, alarmed’ itself is probably a dialect word related to bogle [E16th] ‘a phantom or goblin’ and bogey [M19th] ‘an evil or mischievous spirit’. Someone may have warned you to mind your Ps and Qs, ‘be careful to behave well and avoid giving offence’. The expression has been known since the 1750s, but its exact origins are uncertain, although there have been many attempts to explain it, none of which are backed by evidence. Mind how you go!, meaning ‘be careful, look after yourself’, has been common in Britain since the 1940s. It was popularized by the long-running BBC TV series Dixon of Dock Green (1955–76), in which it was a catchphrase of the avuncular PC George Dixon, along with evening all. Mindfulness is recorded from the 1530s in the sense ‘attention’, but for the Buddhist-inspired state of focusing awareness on the moment dates from the 1880s.