I love this word. I think it is so bizarre and full of unnecessary letters. I know most of you probably already know this word, so to mix things up, I suggest you pronounce it "cue-eee-ewe-eee-ewe like I sometimes do. :-P
queue (kyū) n.
1. A line of waiting people or vehicles.
2. A long braid of hair worn hanging down the back of the neck; a pigtail.
3. Computer Science.
4. A sequence of stored data or programs awaiting processing.
5. A data structure from which the first item that can be retrieved is the one stored earliest.intr.v., queued, queu·ing, queues.
6. To get in line: queue up at the box office.
[French, from Old French cue, tail, from Latin cauda, cōda.]
Etymology of the word:
15c., "tail of a beast" (heraldic term), from Fr. queue "a tail," from O.Fr. cue "tail," from L. coda (dialectal variant of cauda) "tail," of unknown origin. The M.E. metaphoric extension to "line of dancers" led to extended sense of "line of people, etc." (1837). Also used 18c. in sense of "braid of hair" (first attested 1748). The verb meaning "to stand in a line" is recorded from 1927 (implied in queuing). Churchill is said to have coined Queuetopia (1950), to describe Britain under Labour or Socialist rule.
5 comments:
Can someone think of another word that is more than 80% vowels like Queue is?
the word always reminds me of the quantitative analysis class i took while getting my mba (go chapman).
queing theory is what i am thinking of, but at my age the memory goes faster than i would like. it has to do with the efficient management of resources that one would employ to move people through lines (queues).
thinking back to my mcdonalds days.
if you were scheduling employees for the upcoming lunch rush. how would you know to go from three to four or five employees on the register?
the systems of scheduling that were used, at that time, were in fact a crude form of queing theory.
during a rush hour, how long should the light remain red before turning green, at the enterence to a fwy?
the mathematics of these calculations is, as i remember, queing theory.
so the brits queue up
the new yorkers stand on line
and californians stand in line....
That's really fascinating Larry. I love it when people figure out logical ways to do things, like how to know when to add another cashier. It appeals to my twisted brain. That, and I really hate waiting in line. It's such an inefficient use of time. I always try to have a book or something with me when I know I am going to wait in line for a long time.
I always think of the British when I hear the word queue, as in to 'queue up' (stand in line). Also, I did not realize there was a regional difference; 'stand in line' (California) and 'stand on line' (New York). Stand in line sounds better to my ear, now I know it's just a regional thing, like soda and pop.
how about the word "a" and "i"?
those are 100% vowel!
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