The Word "Queue"
Can I, a full-blooded American, use the word "queue" for "line of people" in a poem and not be dismissed as an Anglophiliac?
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It depends on whom you are quoting.
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No you may not
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If you use it in a rhyming position, the risk is that it will stand out as rhyme-driven.
If you use it, perhaps you ought to put a few other British touches into the poem so it looks like, for whatever reason, you have made a conscious decision to go with a British speaker. If you just use the one word, it will look either rhyme-driven or accidental. |
I had college roommates who were computer science majors, and they used this word all the time. It has a lot of uses in computer logic, and the business management types seem to use it a lot, too
(This was in the middle seventies, when the school had an IBM mainframe that cost 6 millions bucks, and had less power than a smartphone.) One of them was a full blooded Vietnamese (Hue), one was a full blooded Indian (Bombay), and one was a full blooded American Cracker (Jacksonville, FL). At least to those who had a technical (or, business) education, or is around the same, it is acceptable. If your audience is of that sort, it would probably work. If they liberal arts types, you probably are on thin ice. It's also a favorite of crossword puzzle writers, as it has lots of vowels. Having said that, in my neck of the woods, we still line up to buy a movie ticket. But then, our evening meal is still supper, not dinner. |
It pains me to be serious about this issue, but...
https://newrepublic.com/article/1169...h-word-america |
Woohoo, thanks for the link, Kevin.
I'm not using "queue" in a rhyme-position, so I think it will be ok. I'm a full-blooded Armenian Cracker--Lavosh is what we call it. Thank you all for your advice. I want American English to absorb all the British words, all of them, "queue" for "line," "ming" for "stink," more, more of them! |
You've obviously never been to Liverpool.
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I’m a Scouser, lad, a proper skint.
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Explain yourself Aaron.
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