The Language of Queuing

One of the more popular search queries is, “Is it queue or que?”

Where did this word come from? How do you pronounce it? What’s the correct definition and meaning?

This article will not only answer all of these questions but also introduce you to the concept of the language of queuing.

So where did “queue” come from?

The word “queue” in its intended meaning (“a line of people”) dates back to 1837. More likely, “queue” comes from the Old French “cue” or “coe”, which means “tail”. Compare this to its Latin equivalent — “coda” or “cauda” — with the same meaning.

At first, the word “queue” was used to describe tails, especially tails of heraldic beasts. Starting from the 16th century, “queue” became associated with a line of dancers.

Finally, almost three hundred years after, it became synonymous with a line of people.

“Queue” also has an alternative definition of “braid of hair hanging down behind”. It is a typically male-worn hairstyle that is associated with Native Americans but was also mandatory in the Prussian Army.

British soldiers in the 18th century wore their hair in queues — pulled-back single tails tied down with a ribbon. In 1800, queues were discontinued in the British Army, while the Royal Navy sailors continued to style their hair until 1820s.

Sadly, unlike queues-as-in-hairstyle, queues-as-in-waiting-lines proved to be more impervious to time, and they still remain a part of our lives.

Spelling It Out: The Correct Use of “Queue”

You wouldn’t believe how many people out there are searching for “que management system”, “cue management software”, or even “q management”.

On the off-chance that you’re one of the people who can’t remember the correct spelling, here’s a short version: it’s spelled ‘queue’.

But let’s go over everything from the beginning.

First of all, the “queue” versus “cue” debate. “Cue”, although similar to the Old French word which gave us “queue”, is another term entirely.

It’s common for people to mix up these two terms because they are homophones, i.e. they sound the same when you pronounce them. It’s the same problem with their / they’re / there.

What does “cue” mean? If you’ve ever played pool, billiards or snooker, you will know that the term “cue” refers to a rod used for hitting balls.

(Guess “cue management”, in this case, means dusting off your pool cue collection.)

Alternatively, “cue” also means a hint or a signal for something to happen.

Next up, “que”. At first, it seems perfectly suited for our modern times — a snappy, abbreviated form of a word that already has two too many vowels.

In actuality, when you’re searching for “que management”, you can be mistaken for a person interested in administration of Quebec, of which “que” is a shortened form.

(Also, “qué” is a Spanish word for “what”. But that’s just us showing our linguistic versatility.)

Lastly, there’s “Q”. Q is, of course, just a letter and not a separate term.

Many queue management solutions, QueueAway included, use the letter Q in their names. This is done for brevity’s sake and is in no way an endorsement of tearing down the pillars of the English language.

Hope this has helped clear up some confusion.

The correct spelling: “queueing” vs. “queuing”

“Queueing” versus “queuing” is a common point of linguistic contention.

The long and short of it is that both spellings are correct. This may sound anticlimactic, but “queueing” and “queuing” are simply alternative spellings of the gerund (-ing) form of the same word.

That is not to say that there is no difference between them at all.

The vast majority of queueing theory researchers use “queueing.” The complete list of these researches would take a long time, so I’ll only mention J. W. Cohen, T. L. Saaty, N. Prabhu, and B. Gnedenko.

Also, “queueing” is mainly used in British English. For example, the Guardian and Observer style guide categorically states that it’s “queueing, not queuing”.

“Queuing” is mostly an American invention, and is recognized as such by most dictionaries and spell checkers.

Why the need for different spellings at all?

The most obvious problem with the former spelling (“queueing”) is that it has five vowels in a row. For comparison, there’s only one word in the English dictionary that has more consecutive vowels — EUOUAE.

It may sound like a cry of a man who dropped a hammer on his toe but doesn’t want to wake anyone up, but it’s actually a mnemonic device to help memorize the sequence of tones in medieval music.

(Cue a shooting star from the NBC, with the words “The More You Know”.)

Apart from “queueing”, there are only seven more words with that many vowels in a row: AIEEE, COOEEING, MIAOUED, ZAOUIA, JUSSIEUEAN, ZOOEAE, ZOAEAE.

If you’ve never heard of either of these words, you’re not alone. A common element you might have spotted is that all of these words look made-up and are awkward to write down.

That is not to say that the use of “queueing” should be rejected, but in the interest of brevity, we prefer to spell it as “queuing”.