Tuesday, February 13. 2007

On vs. In

Two questions should anyone feel like answering:

1) When you were waiting with the unclean masses to get your (Wii, PS3, Phantom of the Opera tix, Gov’t cheese, whatever) were you waiting in line, or waiting on line?

2) What state/city do you live in?

I’m trying to figure out just where the line is if you were to look at a map.

Thank you.

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Comments: 16. Click to add/view.
Posted by jer@nyquil.org at 18:27



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Comments
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2007-02-13 20:07
Christian said:

Huh?

#1 (Reply)
2007-02-14 05:56
jer said:

Some people say "I waited on line" instead of "i waited in line," and I’m just trying to figure out if there’s some sort of rule I can follow to figure out which someone will say depending on where they live.

You know, for my secret CIA work. Nothing’s as embarrassing as saying blowing your cover by saying the wrong regional phrase.

#1.1 (Reply)
2007-02-15 22:03
Christian said:

I waited IN line. Never heard of it any other way, interesting. Maybe when people said they waited ON line, they were waiting for their porn to download?

#1.1.1 (Reply)
2007-02-13 21:13
aerospace said:

i waited IN line. for all those goobers who say "on line," they should know to get with the times. anyone who says that just sounds like they are sitting around on their computer. that may not have been the case in the past, but it is the year 2007 and GET WITH IT. the least they can do is sound foreign and say "queue up" or something.

speaking of lines, i read a short article about old soviet/communist jokes. here it is, for your amusement.

- two women waiting in the bread line get to chatting. one says "i heard there’s going to be snow tomorrow." the other replies "well i’m not queuing for that!"

#2 (Reply)
2007-02-13 21:17
aerospace said:

ps – i lined up for about 20 minutes in Tampa, FL, then found out the fucking super walmart out in richy soccer-mom central was only getting 20 wiis, so we headed down to Brandon where the nearer to white-trash walmart had 33 [was supposed to have 60, but half their shipment was delayed?] i was 34 in line. :( the guy we were with was 33, so at least i got to play that night.

#2.1 (Reply)
2007-02-14 05:53
jer said:

I concur, and will say queue from now on. There are many Britishisms that I already use, such as "aluminium," "advertisment," etc, so it will fit right in.

#2.2 (Reply)
2007-02-14 21:17
aerospace said:

how about vitamins [with a short i sound] and bangers and beans?

my parents lived in england for like 6 years so i’ve heard plenty of britishisms, yet for all his time there my dad couldn’t get over saying samwich. i hate that word. but not as much as i hate sammich.

#2.2.1 (Reply)
2007-02-14 01:06
greatbiggary said:

"In" line, of course. I believe "on" line is a Britishism. I haven’t waited in line for anything for a long time, except at the post office.

#3 (Reply)
2007-02-14 05:51
jer said:

Well, I hear it from East Coasties calling in to Penn Jillette’s radio show all the time. I’m pretty sure that at least here in the states it’s an east thing, I’m just curious where the line is.

By aerospace’s FL example, I’m now thinking it must be northeast…

#3.1 (Reply)
2007-02-14 21:10
aerospace said:

on the contrary, i’m originally from pennsylvania, and no one there said "on line." however, i was raised to say SODA [my dad’s from southeastern pennsylvania and my mom’s from lansing, michigan], but everyone in town said POP. i eventually grew to say POP around my peers, but i said soda everywhere else.

#3.1.1 (Reply)
2007-02-15 22:32
greatbiggary said:

Yeah. I’m from NJ, and I never heard it anywhere there. I’ve also been to Philadelphia, and NYC countless times through my life. In fact, we usually ate dinner on Saturday nights in Philly, at some really great Italian restaurants.

I waited "in line" for about 4 hours for tickets to Jekyll and Hide in Manhattan with my girlfriend, and talked to someone who told us they were always "in line here," and had seen the show some crazy number of times (like over 60).

Too, I recall as a kid going to Washington, D.C., and the Baltimore, MD, Aquarium, and waiting "in" who knows how many lines with other class trips.

Also, I went to college in FL, and lived there (near Aerospace) for 8 years. Never heard "on line" there, not even "in line" at the Hollywood 20 movie theater (how I miss that place, and those times).

I didn’t hear it in Acapulco, Mexico, when we stayed there for a week, or in Nashville, TN, when we were at the Opryland Hotel for a week, nor "in lines" all day at Disneyland, CA that one time, or Disney World, FL, many many times since I was a kid, nor at the Bush Gardens, or Six Flags in NJ, or California.

Honestly, the only times I can recall hearing it are from the few British friends I’ve had along the way, and maybe here and there on television, but I don’t really recall that happening until around college. I’m not saying you’re wrong. This is just info from my own life experience.

#3.1.1.1 (Reply)
2007-02-14 07:49
D said:

I don’t believe I’ve ever actually heard anyone say ON line instead of IN line. And I’ve lived all over.

#4 (Reply)
2007-02-14 08:37
Greg said:

I think most native New Yorkers (including me) say "on line", although I have no emotional attachment to the phrase (as opposed to "soda" over "pop") so I don’t mind waffling either way.

Regarding soda-pop, have you seen this?
https://tastyresearch.wordpress.com/files/2006/10/popvssodamap.png

Aha, google helps again. It looks like my NY theory is correct:
http://www3.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_93.html

#5 (Reply)
2007-02-14 15:12
jer said:

Hey, thanks for the links. I was planning on making a much less-detailed map just like that, but instead I’ll just look at the one you linked.

The sodapop one is pretty surprising. I figured it’d be much more concentrated than it is, but I suspect it’s due to people moving across country.

#5.1 (Reply)
2007-02-14 11:32
butch howard said:

I have lived all over the southern US from Georgia to Texas. It has been "in line" in all those places.

However, I have taken to using ‘queue’ just to screw with people around here (suburbs of atlanta).

#6 (Reply)
2008-05-16 21:26
Maria Parsley said:

I just heard "on line" on King of Queens – a show based in Long Island – Doug said it. It bothered me because I had noticed people say it before and I had to find out what the deal was. I’m from western NY, no one says "on line" there, and I went to school in Tulsa, I heard it a few times there and now I’m in Colorado Springs and I’ve probably heard it the most here but my husband said he has never heard it before tonight – weird. Thanks for this blog – otherwise I might have thought I was hearing things :0)

#7 (Reply)

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jer@nyquil.org

The author lives in Vancouver, Washington, USA with his girlfriend and a menagerie of cats, rats, fish, birds, guinea pigs and robots.

Among other inanities, he strives to use investigative techniques to work young starlet breasts into every aspect of rational discourse — focusing on the discourse, thus making it not perverted. Also, has recently begun a career as “Internet hairstylist.”

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