Queue, Cue and Que

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Because I have a headache coming on and I'm feeling bolshy, I thought I'd clear this up for once and for all.

A queue is a line of something (people, cars, shoppers) waiting for something (traffic lights to change, loo, check out). So you might say something like: I'm in a queue for the 5 items of less till. (NB - it is also an old term for a pigtail but we can safely ignore that I think)

A cue is a signal or guide or stimulus for something else to happen. So you might say: my mum came to watch my well behaved horse jump - cue horse being a knob. This is a shortened way of saying: my mum came to watch my well behaved horse jump - her presence was the cue for my horse to be a knob. Get the idea?

Que isn't a word at all except in rare instances when it is either short for Quebec or a French conjunction (do I mean conjunction or do I mean preposition?) and needn't concern us here at all.

Thank you and pass the ibuprofen.

 

[VioletStripe]

Thank you!! It irritates me when people switch and don't know the difference between the two - I'm aware this shows I'm shallow, pedantic and have no life but meh

Sorry about your headache though, get well soon! xx

 

[Mithras]

But may I BUTT in and point out that LOSE is when something goes missing and LOOSE is when you set something free?

 

[YorksG]

Just to be extra difficult, cue is also the stick for hitting snooker balls with

 

[Ravenwood]

But may I BUTT in and point out that LOSE is when something goes missing and LOOSE is when you set something free?

But to make life difficult we used to live near a village called Loose which was pronounced Lose - my sister's nearest school and also where Tony Hart lived - just thought I would throw that little bit of unimportant information into the equation

 

[Karran]

My absolute pet hate is people who get there, their and they're mixed up. Grrrrr.
Remember it's "their horse is over there and they're going for a ride"
I especially get annoyed when teachers email me with the wrong one. I have on occasion written back correcting them!! So irritating!!

 

[Kallibear]

Can we add to, too and two to the list? Oh, and their, they're and there. Plus a couple of others I can't remember right now.

 

[Ravenwood]

My absolute pet hate is people who get there, their and they're mixed up. Grrrrr.
Remember it's "their horse is over there and they're going for a ride"
I especially get annoyed when teachers email me with the wrong one. I have on occasion written back correcting them!! So irritating!!

But this is just a horsey forum - people should not be judged on their grammar or typing mistakes but instead their knowledge.

There used to be a very old man (RIP) who was a wealth of knowledge regarding horses - everyone would go to him for remedies and advice but I bet my bottom dollar he wouldn't have a clue which their/they're or there to use and what does it matter when taken in context?

 

[Karran]

It doesn't matter any more than the people who get queue and cue muddled. It's just something that irrationally angers me. It's the written equivalent to scratching your fingernails down a blackboard for me!!

 

[CanadianGirl]

When people mix up lose and loose it drives me crazy.

Especially when they call someone a "looser". It always makes me think "is that the opposite of a tighter?

 

[chessy]

I need to add the proper pronounciation of the letter "H" to the list! It should be "aitch". NOT "haitch". You don't actually pronounce the H! It drives me mad when people do this!

 

[kildalton]

Because I have a headache coming on and I'm feeling bolshy, I thought I'd clear this up for once and for all.

A queue is a line of something (people, cars, shoppers) waiting for something (traffic lights to change, loo, check out). So you might say something like: I'm in a queue for the 5 items of less till. (NB - it is also an old term for a pigtail but we can safely ignore that I think)

A cue is a signal or guide or stimulus for something else to happen. So you might say: my mum came to watch my well behaved horse jump - cue horse being a knob. This is a shortened way of saying: my mum came to watch my well behaved horse jump - her presence was the cue for my horse to be a knob. Get the idea?

Que isn't a word at all except in rare instances when it is either short for Quebec or a French conjunction (do I mean conjunction or do I mean preposition?) and needn't concern us here at all.
Thank you and pass the ibuprofen.

I t should be 5 items or fewer

 

[Ravenwood]

It doesn't matter any more than the people who get queue and cue muddled. It's just something that irrationally angers me. It's the written equivalent to scratching your fingernails down a blackboard for me!!

Then stop being so uptight and relax a bit -there are far more important things to worry about!

 

[Karran]

Why is the thing about there's seemingly upsetting people more than the loose/lose or queue/cue thing?

I'm being bullied! :-(

 

[hairycob]

Can I add affect & effect to the list?

 

[rubyrumba]

My son is six and came home with a picture, it said "This is me and ......." That really annoyed me, I am forever correcting him, this is ....... and I!! Makes you wonder what on earth they teach them. Most people I know can't spell! I am forever correcting people, I just can't help myself!!

 

[mcnaughty]

God yes! I have known of several people in senior executive positions that cannot get the simple to, too, two and their, there etc right! Amazing - feel like correcting their emails in red and sending back to them!

 

[Cuppatea]

also when people say 'x learnt me how to do it'

ITS TAUGHT DAMNIT!!!!!!!

 

[tallyho!]

I thought que was a snooker que... have I been misled?? Please enlighten me as I am now developing a headache...

 

[Cuppatea]

I thought que was a snooker que... have I been misled?? Please enlighten me as I am now developing a headache...

its a snooker cue!

 

[tallyho!]

its a snooker cue!

With a "c"???? NO way??? Glad that got cleared up. Headache - gone. (not sure if that is the prossecco or the iburofen)

Thank goodness for you cuppatea.....

 

[Cuppatea]

With a "c"???? NO way??? Glad that got cleared up. Headache - gone. (not sure if that is the prossecco or the iburofen)

Thank goodness for you cuppatea.....

*snigger* a good cuppatea is better than any painkiller.....!

 

[tallyho!]

*hugs cuppatea* "i love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" never mind if its mutual - it;s one of those weddingy drunky ones...

p.s. shouldn't be here I'm well pissed but I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what happens if you fit your telly to tinterweb via console ont kitcen n stuff... complicated but good to know ou cna type on't onion board.

 

[POLLDARK]

Adverts for horses with good 'confirmation' instead of conformation is one that crops up a lot. Though I dare say some may have been confirmed in this day & age ! In a local paper a firm had taken out a full page ad last week, all their kitchens were 'Taylor' !!!!!!!!! made & it wasn't a pun. I think we are showing our age getting niggled by these things, the days of spelling being taught are long gone.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

My son is six and came home with a picture, it said "This is me and ......." That really annoyed me, I am forever correcting him, this is ....... and I!! Makes you wonder what on earth they teach them. Most people I know can't spell! I am forever correcting people, I just can't help myself!!

In fact 'they' are teaching your son the correct grammar.
In the picture caption, which you quoted, 'This' is the subject of the verb 'to be' (is) 'me' is the object.
You would NOT say "This is I", you would say "This is me". So you follow the same rule and say "This is my friend and me".
I have to say, it really annoys me when people correct others wrongly. Incidentally at the age of 6, most children are expected to write as they speak, as the act of writing is more important, followed by correct spelling. It is a higher order skill to write in a more formal style. If people want their children to write correctly at this stage, they should ensure that they speak correctly to them and in their hearing, as children copy their parents in preference to any-one else.

 

[Rowreach]

And then there's all those people on here who bruy horses - at least I assume they do, since their posts are usually entitled "I have just brought ..."

Oh, and the aitch/haitch thing - well I say aitch because I was brought up in England, but my kids say haitch because they are growing up here, and I won't be "correcting" that

 

[Pearlsasinger]

My personal bugbear is 'bear' and 'bare'. I cannot BEAR to read people baring their souls to other forum members, who tell us that they are unable to 'bare' their horses' behaviour a moment longer, especially when they also get 'breaks' and 'brakes' confused. If your horse has no brakes, you are likely to break, or to get broken.

 

[hairycob]

I must admit I always giggle at references to "bridal paths". I always have an image of women in long white dresses in soft focus!

 

[welshwizzard]

"uphauled" always makes me snigger

 

[rubyrumba]

In fact 'they' are teaching your son the correct grammar.
In the picture caption, which you quoted, 'This' is the subject of the verb 'to be' (is) 'me' is the object.
You would NOT say "This is I", you would say "This is me". So you follow the same rule and say "This is my friend and me".
I have to say, it really annoys me when people correct others wrongly. Incidentally at the age of 6, most children are expected to write as they speak, as the act of writing is more important, followed by correct spelling. It is a higher order skill to write in a more formal style. If people want their children to write correctly at this stage, they should ensure that they speak correctly to them and in their hearing, as children copy their parents in preference to any-one else.

Well I was always taught to say "Whoever and I are doing whatever" You don't say "Me and whoever are doing whatever" Or "Whoever and me and doing whatever"