Idioms R Us

[tippergreen]

Hello again! A new post! I'm really making this happen! Yup.

So, I happen to write a lot, but not always fun things. Because I'm a lawyer, I do a lot of writing at work. "Drafting," they call it, when it's a contract, and "persuasive writing" when it's a response to an IR or a brief. I also, of course, argue with other lawyers in emails, and this is where things get sticky. When it's an argument in a negotiation, your emails need to have excellent grammar, punctuation, spelling and, of course, be clear and concise, otherwise you lose points with the other attorney, and they tell their clients you're an idiot. No one wants to be an idiot.

Which is why it's really annoying when you write an English idiom and find yourself stuck for ten minutes trying to figure out a homophone problem. In this case, "cue" and "queue." Since google failed to provide me with an answer, I thought I'd ask here.

So, here's my question: if you are setting something up to be discussed at a later date, are you: "queuing something up" or "cuing something up?"

(The whole sentence was, "I'll queue this up for our next meeting." Then I deleted "queue" and typed in "cue." So, "I'll cue this up for our next meeting." Then I changed it back. Then I went to Google, which failed to find me a clear answer. I ended up writing, "I'll set this up for the next meeting" but it has been bothering me all day!)

Comments

[xparrot]

Hah! I thought it would be "queuing it up" myself in the sense of getting it in line to bring up later. But "queue" does look weirdly British to me. And then I read this post and it sounds like we Americans will write "cue" while meaning the same as "queue"??? So...I am no help at all, but English, man...!

[naye]

That's such a tricky one! I first thought queue, because I have been on Tumblr for too long and had an actual posting queue? But my theatre childhood wants it to be cue...

[tippergreen]

Yes! Hence the confusion. Frustratingly, I did find that there might be an American English/British English divergence. While I think most people would use queue, you can, in fact, use cue. That's where things got confusing for me. I checked three different dictionaries and some grammar blogs. Here's the best answer I found:

"Is it Cue Up or Queue Up?

Adding somewhat to the confusion of these two words, both phrases, cue up and queue up are acceptable to use, but they relate to each word’s individual definition.

For example, the phrase "cue up" is used when positioning an audio or video in readiness for playing. A radio talk show might ask his producer to cue up clip 17.

Similarly, the phrase "queue up" is used when someone is lining up. Air travelers queue up when their plane is boarding. If you have Netflix, you might have queue of shows that have lined up, waiting for you to watch."

So, both are used, but I think if you "cue something up" it means you are signalling someone to play something next. Whereas if you "queue something up" it means you are adding it to a line of things.

Which didn't help my quandary much. I actually think, in the context in which I used it, the proper word was cue.

[tippergreen]

And you're not wrong, because both are correct! Turns out, it depends on context. (I read, like, ten grammar blogs on this question).

If you are "queuing something up" it means you are putting in a line of existing items. Like, queuing up a playlist, or queuing up an agenda item in a meeting.

Whereas, "cuing" something up means you are presenting it to be played/listened to. So, the way I used it, which was to cue up people to let them know there would be another meeting and what it would be about, I actually think "cue" was correct.

Frankly, I don't think anyone would actually notice, but this is what's in my head now.