New Campaign: Cut Out Cue

Or COC for short

This has been getting on my nerves for some time now, and I'm sure I can't be the only one.

I love reading QOTW, but this enjoyment is marred by the prevalence and misuse of word 'cue'

Dictionary definitons would suggest the word, when used as a noun, means a prompt or signal or when used as a verb, means to give that prompt or signal.

So, a QOTWer who sets a scene beautifully in a paragraph or two, and continues the story with 'Cue me, lying over the bench, with my knickers around my ankles, and half a rugby team up my arse' ARE USING IT INCORRECTLY

And don't get me started on people who spell it 'queue' in this context

(although with half a rugby team, there probably WOULD be a queue....)


/rant
(Lolitaslittlesister, Tue 3 Feb 2009, 23:10, 14 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Hmmm
What word would you use instead?

Complaining that the English language has changed since you last looked is like complaining that Lost doesn't make sense.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Tue 3 Feb 2009, 23:22, Reply)

If
You were lying over a snooker table with your knickers round your ankles then "cue me" would make good, albeit painful and unhygienic sense.

Probably the best option would be the Latin Que. Far too scholastic for a warehouse manager, but that's what I'd go for as grammatical perfection.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Tue 3 Feb 2009, 23:31, Reply)

It's being used as a verb.
Cue the actor- he's missed his prompt.

Cue the musician- he was supposed to start playing.

Cue the lost girl wandering through the woods. Start the action.

In each case, this denotes a character getting a prompt for some sort of action. Used in the example you give, it would denote that the main character is being prompted to action, as in a play- cue the young boy walking across the street, for example. Meaning, at that moment the audience notices the young boy crossing the street.

It's being properly used. It's a narrative device.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 3 Feb 2009, 23:47, Reply)

I read a lot of QOTW
and rarely see this word tbh. However, the example you cite, is perfectly OK. Go back to school. They teach you more in Year 2.
( I have run out of coke is a little sweaty, Tue 3 Feb 2009, 23:58, Reply)

Stoopidly
I've got an OED under my left elbow.

It says a few things about cue, but most pertinently it says "hint on appropriate behaviour".

Now - apply that to the example you provided paying particular attention to the word APPROPRIATE.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 0:11, Reply)

there should be queue
and there should be a snooker table, with crumpled knickers dangling from my left ankle. mmm.

but I feel for the pedantic aspect of this post. 'impact' as a verb nearly had me in a state of stroke for ages. but I've given up now, 6 years later. you can't fight change.

no one loves the English language more than me. but what's best is its flexibility, and absorption of new and 'foreign' words. look at French, if you'd like to see a language that is moribund, and in chains.

ranty, as always. sorry, lads.
( cackers, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 2:51, Reply)

I think this is perfectly fine in this context.

*cough*

Excuse me while I masturbate furiously over check with Susie Dent and Rachel Wossname from Countdown.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 4:09, Reply)

it is used in the right way
but it is used a lot (enough for me and others to notice it at least)
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 8:26, Reply)

It is used quite a lot, it's become a meme on here in the manner of putting 'pearoast' or a length joke at the end
But please, for the love of God, when you're writing such a high and mighty condescending post about other people's use of English, make sure you have some idea what you're talking about first! The usage you quote, as other people have pointed out, is absolutely fine.

It just makes you look like a bit of a tosser.
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 8:42, Reply)

Surely that's the only context in which it is correct
As an order to the reader or to the bunch of rugby players to please cue you with a cue.
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 8:55, Reply)

www.b3ta.com/questions/offtopic/post193345

Cheers, Bert.
( Bert Monkeysex is waiting for the mods to delete him, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 9:18, Reply)

Bugs the shit out of me
Whenever I see it in QOTW I always reply with,

Aaaaargh
'cue'
Aaaargh
(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 9:59, Reply)

I dislike the usage.
I would contest the assertion that it's being used correctly, though it think it usually reads terribly when used in the QOTW and am therefore biased against it.

The sense in which it's being used is (it seems to me) in a similar manner to which an actor is cued; a prompt to action. In almost every instance, it's not. It's a statement of something that's already happened or a cut to a situation already in existence.

I can see the argument that this example is correct, but there are far better ways to express it. My main gripe is that it's lazy writing, rather than any technical quibble.
(ThomsonsPier consumes, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 12:51, Reply)

ThomsonsPier
Touch me. Touch me in my special place with your mighty trouser Ferret.
( Bert Monkeysex is waiting for the mods to delete him, Wed 4 Feb 2009, 13:39, Reply)