# cut queue, jump queue, cut in line [AE vs BE]



## timebomb

Hi, folks,

When you're in a queue and someone rudely cuts in somewhere in the middle of the queue and not at the end of it, is this person jumping the queue or cutting the queue?

<<Antonia's thread entitled _*cut in line - AE or BE*_ has been added to this thread from #16 onwards.
Panj
(Mod)>>


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## modgirl

Good question! My inclination (and I could be wrong) is that a person who _jumps the queque_ avoids it all together (for instance, simply walking to the very front or grabbing the attention of the person to whom the queque is waiting). Thus, one who _cuts the queque_, cuts in the middle of it instead of adding to the end of it.

However, some may use the words interchangeably.

I'm anxious to hear other opinions myself!


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## jess oh seven

i'd say _skipping the queue_ or _cutting in line_.


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## cuchuflete

Hi Timebomb,

As an aside, *queue* is generally BE.  AE prefers _line_.  Thus a note of caution...queue in AE is usually taken to mean a braid of hair, hanging behind the head.
Just imagine how a not very literate American might interpret 'cut the queue'?!

Now, to your question: Cut in line [I've translated queue to line for the AE readers who don't know the secondary meaning of queue] usually means to intrude oneself into the queue, while 'jump the line' means to go straight to the front, ignoring or feigning indifference to the hostile glowerings of those with manners.

regards,
Cuchuflete


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## panjandrum

Bunk.
Not being rude.  That's what you do to a queue when you fail to take your place meekly at the end.
Alternatively, and more conventionally, you jumped the queue - by several places or right to the front.

Cuchu: - you haven't completely shaken off the yoke of colonial English then 
Queue:  A long plait of hair worn hanging down behind, from the head or from a wig; a pig-tail - a characteristic of the red-coat armies.


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## lsp

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Hi Timebomb,
> 
> As an aside, *queue* is generally BE.  AE prefers _line_.  Thus a note of caution...queue in AE is usually taken to mean a braid of hair, hanging behind the head.
> Just imagine how a not very literate American might interpret 'cut the queue'?!
> 
> Now, to your question: Cut in line [I've translated queue to line for the AE readers who don't know the secondary meaning of queue] usually means to intrude oneself into the queue, while 'jump the line' means to go straight to the front, ignoring or feigning indifference to the hostile glowerings of those with manners.
> 
> regards,
> Cuchuflete


I had never heard queue for braid, but I think Americans are becoming more familiar with the word, at least understanding it if not yet using it, partly because of the increase in cultural exchanges in travel, film, music, etc., and because also it's used in software (print queue, netflix queue, java, as examples).


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## cuchuflete

lsp said:
			
		

> I had never heard queue for braid, but I think Americans are becoming more familiar with the word, at least uinderstanding it if not yet using it, partly because of the increase in cultural exchanges in travel, film, music, etc., and because also it's used in software (print queue, netflix queue, java, as examples).



Curious, I suppose it's a part of my fascination with history.
The Chinese immigrants in the western US in the 19th century were often subject to various forms of persecution, often including having their queues pulled or cut off.  

However, you are correct.  While most dictionaries put the braid ahead of the polite line, current usage has reversed the frequency of usage from the back of the head to the head of the throng.


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## cuchuflete

panjandrum said:
			
		

> Cuchu: - you haven't completely shaken off the yoke of colonial English then
> Queue: A long plait of hair worn hanging down behind, from the head or from a wig; a pig-tail - a characteristic of the red-coat armies.



God Bless your German King George III.  We are stuck with
G II, but his G2 isn't very good.  Do you think we might get him to emulate his namesake, and ingest (voluntarily, of course) copious quantities of antimony?  

Don't British judges still wear wigs with queues?  

Yoke shaking is well down my list of amusements, after daylily hybridizing, playing with words, Jazz, chamber music, swimming in the river (seasonal), and thinking about house repair.  I'm planning to add color coding my books, but that may have to wait until after I've done some serious yoke shaking.


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## Edwin

lsp said:
			
		

> I had never heard queue for braid, but I think Americans are becoming more familiar with the word, at least understanding it if not yet using it, partly because of the increase in cultural exchanges in travel, film, music, etc., and because also it's used in software (print queue, netflix queue, java, as examples).



Some engineering students, computer science students and mathematics students even take courses nowadays in the theory of queueing: 

*Queueing theory* (sometimes spelled queuing theory, but then losing *the distinction of containing the only English word with 5 consecutive vowels*) is the mathematical study of waiting lines (or queues). There are several related processes, arriving at the back of the queue, waiting in the queue (essentially a storage process), and being served by the server at the front of the queue. It is applicable in transport and telecommunication. Occasionally linked to ride theory.  From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queuing_theory where more details about the subject can be obtained.

I don't think cutting in line is studied in queueing theory.


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## johnL

timebomb said:
			
		

> When you're in a queue and someone rudely cuts in somewhere in the middle of the queue and not at the end of it, is this person jumping the queue or cutting the queue?



"Cutting in line" or "butting in line."


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## Artrella

*Jump the queue* >> Br E

*Cut in line* >> Am E

Queue (BrE) = Line (AmE)

It makes me mad when someone *jumps the queue *  

Cut in line *US* jump the queue (BrE)

Source: I Finger (OUP)


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## Amityville

"Pushing in" - no explicit reference to the queue. "That woman just pushed in."
I wonder if queueing theory has a word for the person just behind breathing down your neck/standing on your heels/nudging your bottom with his trolley ? The passive-aggressive queuer.


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## foxfirebrand

Amityville said:
			
		

> I wonder if queueing theory has a word for the person just behind breathing down your neck/standing on your heels/nudging your bottom with his trolley?


 
Sounds to me like what I'd call a tailgater.  Usually said of highway traffic, tailgating is following at too-close quarters.


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## panjandrum

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Don't British judges still wear wigs with queues?


Judges still wear wigs, as do barristers. Dark suits, black gowns, white wigs - both men and women.
Judges wigs are much too grand to have queues. To see legal wigs *CLICK HERE*.


			
				edwin said:
			
		

> Some engineering students, computer science students and mathematics students even take courses nowadays in the theory of queueing.


Hand up - and not only nowadays. Once upon a time, long long ago, in the days when we did binary arithmetic as part of the computing exam in our engineering finals, I also studied queueing theory as part of communications and information theory.
I'm more or less convinced that the appearance of multi-server queues in banks, shops and elsewhere coincided with the increasingly scientific analysis of queueing behaviour.


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## timebomb

In Singapore, sometimes we line, sometimes we queue.  

We queue when we're waiting for our turn to be served at the post office or at the bank.  We queue too, at the bus stop when we wait for the bus to arrive.  But we stand in line only when we're ordered to do so.  For instance, students are told to line themselves up when they're about to go into their classes.  In the army, the sergeant shouts "fall in" and the soldiers immediately form lines of 3.  I attended my company's training camp and the instructor said, 'Please line yourselves up" when we're about to take our turns on abseiling down a rock face.  Whew, that one was scary   

In short, when in Singapore, a queue is more or less voluntary and somewhat less orderly than a line.

Mostly, we frown and whisper "someone's cutting queue" when a bully comes around and pops himself a few places in front of us when we queueing.  A brave soul may venture "Hey, you!!  Please don't cut queue". We don't even say "cut the queue" as it's obvious which queue he cut into.  If we say "jump queue", people would probably think someone actually took a running jump and landed himself somewhere along the queue    Nobody ever cuts a line as the consequences can be disastrous and also, there's no incentive to do so  

That said, do we say "join in a queue" when we take our place at the end of one?  Or is it simply "join a queue"?


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## antonia2240

HI, everybody,

Pls tell me if that expression is only American or it is in use in UK too.
Thanks


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## mjscott

_Cutting in line_ is not permitted in the cafeteria at our school--you cannot allow your friend to pass up everyone else just because you are in the front of the line. You will have to wait to see if our British friends cut in queue--or however they might express the same action....


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## panjandrum

Not BE.
We don't have lines, we have queues
I'm adding this thread to the end of a previous thread on cutting lines, or jumping queues


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## Joelline

In AE, we also say "breaking into the line."  I'm actually not sure if this always suggests a more aggressive action that "cutting."  Perhaps some AE speakers could help.


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## ChiMike

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Hi Timebomb,
> 
> As an aside, *queue* is generally BE. AE prefers _line_. Thus a note of caution...queue in AE is usually taken to mean a braid of hair, hanging behind the head.
> Just imagine how a not very literate American might interpret 'cut the queue'?!
> 
> Now, to your question: Cut in line [I've translated queue to line for the AE readers who don't know the secondary meaning of queue] usually means to intrude oneself into the queue, while 'jump the line' means to go straight to the front, ignoring or feigning indifference to the hostile glowerings of those with manners.
> 
> regards,
> Cuchuflete


 
Well, the Brits, having tired of English, turned, about 1837, to the French and adopted their expression (and their word). It means, of course, TAIL, and like the Latin word for "tail" has some other uses in French as well, which I don't believe our British brethern have adopted, since all of us English speakers already have plenty of words for the virile member.

So, take a cue (the older borrowing from Old French of the same word) from me, and do not apologize for Americans who have retained the older way of speaking of the matter. In BE, you can also "queue up" - form a line - "line up" to us poor benighted Americans. In Italian (and still among some of the French) you make a thread (fare filo), adopted into English as stand in file (also the verb "to file" (but not by using the instrument - a file) and the noun "defile" (a narrow passage) - but, except for specific military usage, not the verb of a different origin (foul): to defile!). In German, it being, after all, German, you stand "snake", which word is also used in the vulgar idiom in the same way that "queue" is used in vulgar French. In AE, at least, the line can snake around the block if the show is good enough.


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## Joelline

ChiMike,

Thanks for my laugh for the day! Learning & laughter--not a bad combination, that!


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## emma42

Hi ChiMike!  That was funny.  Yes, Cuchu, English judges do still wear wigs with queues, as do barristers. I once tried one on when I was assisting at the Crown Court and, I have to say, looked rather marvellous.

In my part of England, it's "jumping the queue" and it is a HEINOUS crime. English people are notorious for being reticent and not talking to eachother etc, but if someone jumps the queue, well! Everybody's talking then.


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## quaerereverum

Hallo,


What do you say in English when you are walking up the checkout line but another person walks faster to get to the line sooner than you? I'm not sure that ''jumping the line'' would be the correct answer or not?

Thank you so much for your reply.

<<This thread has been merged with an earlier thread.  Please read from the beginning. 
Cagey, moderator.>>


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## PaulQ

To jump the line = to push into a queue. In your example, there was no queue, just someone who was faster arriving at the queue/line. The person rushed ahead of you.


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## quaerereverum

Thank you PaulQ. As a matter of fact, I've searched and I found ''cut in the line'' but it was not the word that I've looked for.


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## exas

Is it grammatical to say or write "cut queue" as is so often done in Singapore ?


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## Loob

exas said:


> Is it grammatical to say or write "cut queue" as is so often done in Singapore ?


Hello exas - welcome to the forums!
It may be grammatical in Singaporean English.
But it's not grammatical in BrE.


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## Copyright

exas said:


> Is it grammatical to say or write "cut queue" as is so often done in Singapore ?



This sounds like Chinglish to me ... many of my Chinese friends have problems with articles (not surprisingly), and they often solve those problems by dropping them entirely. 

I do, however, hear "cut the queue" in Hong Kong.


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## exas

Loob said:


> Hello exas - welcome to the forums!
> It may be grammatical in Singaporean English.
> But it's not grammatical in BrE.





Thanks. I wanted to confirm.


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## natkretep

Welcome to the forum, exas!

_Cut queue_ is Singlish (non-standard). _Cut the queue_ is standard (Singaporean/British/etc.) English.

('I wanted to confirm' also usually has an object in Standard English: _I wanted to confirm *that*_. But I hear your version all the time! )


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## exas

Thanks for all the specific responses.


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## sound shift

natkretep said:


> _Cut the queue_ is standard (Singaporean/British/etc.) English.


I haven't heard "cut the queue" from a BrE speaker, but perhaps it's crept in in recent years. I say "jump the queue" or simply "push in".


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## DonnyB

sound shift said:


> I haven't heard "cut the queue" from a BrE speaker, but perhaps it's crept in in recent years. I say "jump the queue" or simply "push in".


I've never heard anyone say "cut the queue" in BE.

If I did, I'd assume it meant _reduce the size of the queue_, for example by opening another checkout.


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## Thomas Tompion

I'm used to hearing _to queue-barge_ to describe this activity.


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## Trochfa

Agreeing with Sound Shift and DonnyB. I've never heard "cut the queue" in BrE either.


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## velisarius

Thomas Tompion said:


> I'm used to hearing _to queue-barge_ to describe this activity.



Something similar occurred to me too: 
_That cheeky so-and-so just went barging in ahead of me._


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## Thomas Tompion

I regard _to queue barge_ as the standard pejorative expression and there are many BE instances of it on Google.  Here's one which seems to be designed for foreigners, on how to behave in the UK.

_*Buying tickets or waiting to get into a club etc*_

_Never attempt to ‘queue barge’ – if you try to ‘jump the queue’ (in other words, try to get ahead of other people who were there first), this will be very, very unpopular indeed_. - Form an orderly queue – the art of waiting your turn - B4B Guide Britain

French women are masterly at it.  They'd get told off loudly in Britain, particularly when they are on their portable phones (one of their standard diversionary techniques).


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## heypresto

I vaguely remembered something I saw on the BBC's QI some time ago about queue barging. I found this transcript, and I offer it, because it's Quite Interesting, but with no supporting evidence:

_This is something that's been researched. There is a particular word. Let's suppose that you queue-barge. Now, in general, if you queue-barge apologetically and charmingly, 60% of people will let you in without too much complaint - this was done for a queue to a photocopier - but if you used this one word in your sentence, you would get 95% of people letting you in quite happily.

"Because." "Because." "Yeah, because I've got some photocopying to do."

And it's obvious you've got photocopying to do, you've gone to the front of the photocopying queue, but just saying "because" is the magic word. It unlocks people's objection. "Because I'm in a hurry." "Do you mind? Because I'm in a hurry."_


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## MedaBeda

if you stand in a *queue *(BrE) or in a *line *(AmE), how would you call an action of a person getting right ahead of you or very near ahead of you?

Could I tell the person?

You jumped the queue ahead of me (BrE). /this one probably means based on what is written going to the very front of the queue based on what was written in this forum, but I was just wondering whether saying "ahead of me" in the sentence wouldn´t change the meaning a bit/
You cut in queue ahead of me (BrE).
You cut in line ahead of me (AmE).


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## Uncle Jack

In BrE, you could tell them that they jumped the queue or are jumping the queue. There is no need for "ahead of me"/"in front of me" if you are in a line and the sequence of people is obvious; the complaint you are making is about their jumping in front of everyone behind, not just you, and you are complaining on behalf of everyone.

However, queuing can be something of an art form in Britain, and people in a vague crowd waiting to be served at a bar will be generally aware of who arrived ahead of them and therefore when they expect to be served. If someone who arrived after you attempts to get served before you, then you might well say "you jumped the queue ahead of me", because it may only be you who they have jumped in front of.


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## dojibear

In AmE it is correct to say that someone "cut in line", but you probably wouldn't say to the person "You cut in line."

You would say "go to the back of the line" or "I was here before you".

The sentence "I was here before you." works in post 40's example of a crowd at a bar. "The rule is first-come first-served".


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## Roxxxannne

In the Midwest of the US I've heard "budge the line" and "budge in line."


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## MedaBeda

big thank you to all of you guys for your help


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