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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To say the word is CUE and if you don’t know that then why not use a different word?

140 replies

UnsolicitedOpinions · 07/09/2023 11:33

So many people on here want to use the word “cue” as in “cue DS throwing his toys out of the pram.” People seem to want to use this phrase much more often in writing here than I would hear people use it in real life.

But why use a word when you don’t understand what the word is or how to spell it?

I’ve seen so many different versions in posts on MN - “queue,” “Q”and just now “qué,” which is the most ridiculous yet.

AIBU to say the word you are looking for is “CUE” and if you are not sure then maybe use a different phrase?

OP posts:
EarringsandLipstick · 07/09/2023 12:52

OriginalUsername2 · 07/09/2023 11:48

I don’t get the logic of being angry that people don’t know things.

💯 this.

I know I'm a bit twitchy when I see it - but people using it have heard it said, rather than written, and have just got it wrong.

It's understandable.

TheLongGloriesOfTheWinterMoon · 07/09/2023 12:54

curaçao · 07/09/2023 12:03

You need to learn to keep your unsolicited spelling lesson to yourself OP, and perhaps spend a little more time focusing on your own self-improvement for example learning manners?

Quite.

Out of interest @UnsolicitedOpinions (apt name btw) how do you imagine a poster feels if they've used a word incorrectly (because they weren't aware they were) and then came across a thread started solely to take the piss out of their mistake?

Do you think they'll rush to thank you for your superior insight? Or, you know, feel a bit shit?

If it's the former, and with people like you, it always is- might I suggest that your punctuation (when present at all) could do with some correcting? You could thank me later.

BunnyBunnyJabberJabber · 07/09/2023 12:55

Oh how language hast hath changed. It’s just a signeth of the times I feareth.

TheLongGloriesOfTheWinterMoon · 07/09/2023 12:57

MonumentalLentil · 07/09/2023 12:50

Actually, if these threads help people I don't think they do any harm. When people pile on and start picking others is when they cause a problem.

Well, they probably help them to feel shit and a bit humiliated. If that's your aim, you're certainly achieving it.

OnAMidnightTrainToGeorgia · 07/09/2023 12:57

Innit!

Itick8outof10boxes · 07/09/2023 12:58

OP pedantics corner is one mile to the left of MN because not many people really care anyway.

TheLongGloriesOfTheWinterMoon · 07/09/2023 12:59

Itick8outof10boxes · 07/09/2023 12:58

OP pedantics corner is one mile to the left of MN because not many people really care anyway.

I care a lot.
Correcting people's English is my day job.
Pulling them up on twatty behaviour on a mam forum is a hobby.

ErrolTheDragon · 07/09/2023 13:01

Itick8outof10boxes · 07/09/2023 12:58

OP pedantics corner is one mile to the left of MN because not many people really care anyway.

It's Pedants' Corner!ShockGrin

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/pedants_corner

Alycidon · 07/09/2023 13:01

They don't realise they are wrong so don't feel a need to look it up. If we all suspected we were wrong when we were wrong, there would be few mistakes made in any area of life.

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 07/09/2023 13:02

yellowsmileyface · 07/09/2023 12:45

@ChiefWiggumsBoy But we're not talking about in the context of a school letter. What's the point in discussing irrelevant hypotheticals?

You expect a minimum standard in written and official communications.

Yes, but the minimum standard differs in formal and informal contexts. I admit it irks me when I'm reading a published novel and there's a typo, but that's a completely separate scenario to reading a post on MN.

How is it irrelevant? If you don't know how to spell something in an informal setting, and it's an actual word, how will you ever learn?

Original poster
UnsolicitedOpinions · 07/09/2023 13:04

TheLongGloriesOfTheWinterMoon · 07/09/2023 12:54

Quite.

Out of interest @UnsolicitedOpinions (apt name btw) how do you imagine a poster feels if they've used a word incorrectly (because they weren't aware they were) and then came across a thread started solely to take the piss out of their mistake?

Do you think they'll rush to thank you for your superior insight? Or, you know, feel a bit shit?

If it's the former, and with people like you, it always is- might I suggest that your punctuation (when present at all) could do with some correcting? You could thank me later.

Show quote history

Judging by the punctuation in your last paragraph, with which there are a number of issues, if I do need correction on my punctuation, I don’t think you’re the person for the job.

No, I don’t think I’ll bother thanking you later.

Just for you though, I’ve looked at all the posts I’ve written on this thread. Whilst, if I were submitting this to a learned journal for publication, there are a couple of things that could be punctuated slightly differently, I hardly think “if at all” is appropriate to use regarding the punctuation of my posts.

All of them are punctuated. I even punctuate text messages!

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 07/09/2023 13:04

MonumentalLentil · 07/09/2023 12:47

Just seen a post elsewhere about break pads for the car... another common one.

I once read an article in the motoring section of a newspaper which referred throughout to 'breaks'.

Yes, it was the Guardian.

VeridicalVagabond · 07/09/2023 13:05

People on the internet can't spell.

And in tomorrow's news, the sky is blue.

This seems a really small and insignificant thing to get angry about. I quite enjoy it when people have only ever heard a word said and have a bash at spelling it and get it completely wrong. It's funny, and charming. Like when people horribly mispronounce words they've only ever seen written (I laughed at my husband for about a month when he pronounced Lucozade as Luc-o-zar-day).

Lighten up, in short. The world would be awfully boring if we were all perfect all the time.

MrsAvocet · 07/09/2023 13:05

It is a bit irritating but I think this kind of thing happens quite a lot when people have only encountered a word spoken and not written, so they use their existing knowledge to have a best guess at the spelling. Happens the other way round too of course. We still tease DD about the time she asked for "the steak soo-aye pudding please" in the local pub!

ItsCueNotQue · 07/09/2023 13:07

Haha. I feel this is time to resurrect a previous name change Grin

ErrolTheDragon · 07/09/2023 13:10

Well isn't etymology fascinating?Grin

https://www.etymonline.com/word/cue

BunnyBunnyJabberJabber · 07/09/2023 13:10

Lucozarday! I'm adopting this pronunciation from now on.

clotheshorsegym · 07/09/2023 13:13

OP the point of your post was difficult to understand sorry.

cocksstrideintheevening · 07/09/2023 13:14

I'm a pedant, incorrect word usage and spellings really annoy me, but since my kids have been diagnosed dyslexic I've had to unclench.

2023forme · 07/09/2023 13:16

clotheshorsegym · 07/09/2023 13:13

OP the point of your post was difficult to understand sorry.

Thank god it’s not just me!!

2023forme · 07/09/2023 13:18

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 07/09/2023 12:30

Yes it's just you. You're being purposely obtuse rather than admitting you misread.

Show quote history

Aye ok.

Querypost · 07/09/2023 13:21

Reads your thread cue my response, zzzzzz

Judashascomeintosomemoney · 07/09/2023 13:23

Querypost · 07/09/2023 13:21

Reads your thread cue my response, zzzzzz

Are you sure your username shouldn’t be Cuerypost?

GetWhatYouWant · 07/09/2023 13:23

I don't get why people are so defensive about other people's bad spelling. It's a perpetuation of the "it's not cool to work hard and try hard at school" attitude that seems to have pervaded certain parts of British society. If the average reading age of this country is 9 that is absolutely appalling and shameful. Surely if even some of those people that are unable to use the word 'cue' correctly have seen the OP's post and now realise their mistake that can only be a good thing for them? I presume people would rather know the correct spelling and context than continue to use the wrong one.

ErrolTheDragon · 07/09/2023 13:32

IMO the best thing to do if you come across incorrect spelling or grammar and think it may be helpful, is to model correct usage without comment.

The OP saying you shouldn't use a word if you've unwittingly misspelled it really isn't helpful at all.