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Thursday 20 April 2017




#AtoZChallenge - 4-20-2017 - Letter Q


Q for Queues
(Or the lack of them!)

Why, oh why can we not stand in queues? Is it because a queue is associated with the foreign yoke, which we threw off not-so-long ago? The other great democracy that freed itself from the British chose to repudiate the spelling and pronunciation of the language that they had in common.
We seem to have rejected this simple element of order, maybe out of ego, or an inherent dislike of regulation! Even in posh high-rises there will be that one person who walks into a lift when there are people trying to get out.
At any shop, the counter is engulfed by customers eager to get served first. If one stands in line, one will never reach the counter. Sometimes, I protest when someone barges ahead of me, when it is clearly my turn. At such times, the offender simply says, “OK, you can go first,” with a condescending shrug, as if I am a tantrum-throwing child and he (or she) the bigger person letting me have my way!
Let a bus trundle to a halt at the bus stop, and one can see Darwin’s “Survival of the fittest” theory demonstrated. I am sure the scene would have been equally chaotic at airports as well, were it not for the grim and unbending security staff. The same is true for trains too, but the Metro Rail has contributed a lot to inculcate in us some boarding and alighting etiquette.
Well, we may have a long way to go, but we are getting there---sometimes swarming and sometimes falling in line!
Random thought: What is the purpose of that additional "u-e" in the spelling? Maybe the word itself indicates an orderly lining up of people or letters, for anything to make sense!

3 comments:

  1. Sometimes, people are able to wait in queues for a long time, if they really want something. And, sometimes, even if they have waited patiently on line, they go mad when they've reached the object of their desire (the hottest new toy on that most evil of shopping days, "black Friday"). Oh, and I don't know why queue has two extra letters. You're right that it could be a visual display of letters lined up in a queue. They can't go anywhere because they are blocked in by the q's long tail.

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  2. Perhaps they wanted a longer word to reflect the long waits?😊
    Perspectives at Life & Faith in Caneyhead

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  3. I haven't had too much trouble with lines here in upstate New York, but then again, I don't get out much. Grocery and other stores are set up to facilitate orderly queues.

    R is for Reptilian Elite

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