8 Words Americans Surprisingly Don't Use - Part 1

With the word "queue" featuring prominently in recent news headlines, here's a look at some words I often used in Britain but are not commonly heard in America.

[davidray]

Queue is just the sound of the first letter, with the other letters standing quietly in line.

[Koumajutsu]

Queue is actually more common in American English than you might expect. We just don't use it to describe the act of standing in a line waiting for something. We do use it to describe inanimate objects, or non-physical things that are ordered for some action. E.G. a message queue, or a work order queue

[DellaSinoui]

I had a friend in college who went to England for summer vacation. When she checked into her hotel, she was shocked when the concierge asked her what time she wanted to be knocked up in the morning. That same phrase is used here in the states but has a very different meaning!

[NitFlickwick]

First time I went to England, I got a blister. I needed a bandaid and some acetaminophen from the pharmacy. The hotel staff could not figure out what I wanted. I eventually found out I needed a plaster and some paracetamol from the chemist. This is a 100% true story.

[MyLatin]

I live in the southern US and I can attest to the fact that the word cheeky is used a lot where I grew up usually followed by the word for someone born out of wedlock.

[Negeta]

“Queue” is used fairly common online in games in which you have to wait to get into a match. After you ready up, you get to sit in queue. I think you can tell that it’s a fairly niche word still given it’s frequently misspelled as “que.” If people match-make alone, they’ll even call it “solo queueing.” So it ends up not being a line in the tradition sense, but people still wait their turn to get into a match.

[Beedo_Sookcool]

It made me very proud -- and provided a moment of much-needed relief -- to learn that there was a queue of people . . . watching the queue of people who were queueing up . . . to get into the ACTUAL queue of people who were queueing up to see Her Late Majesty lying in state . . . and that the main queue itself was so enormous, it showed up on satellite images.

We've done it. We have achieved Peak British.

RIP, Your Majesty.

[Itsgonnabeok]

My job is IT tech support. Phone calls wait in a “Queue”. I use queue multiple times a day.

[jacktion]

Peckish wasn’t an uncommon word when and where I grew up. It’s definitely a word I still occasionally use, and no one has ever questioned me on its meaning.
Queue is actually a very common word in certain specific locations here in the states; namely theme parks. I’m not sure when, but at some point park management discovered the word and LOVED it. They started calling lines queues, and then the employees started calling them queues, and then regular park-goers, and so on and so on. But that’s the only place that any of us use the word. I don’t queue up for the checkout at the grocery store, I wait on line.

[zorgon]

My dad used to tell me the joke "queue" is pronounced that way because the other 4 letters are waiting thier turn.

[davidray]

Flyover can also mean a simple aerial display by aircraft - typically in connection with another event, for example at a football game.

[matteo-ciaramitaro]

In America the word queue tends to be used more akin to an ordered list that gets processed in small batches, which is closer to how its used in programming as well. So it's definitely being used a lot because of things like Netflix, Spotify, youtube etc. I still use the word list for things though, like a shopping list, todo list etc. The word line seems to be the most common way for when you have to wait behind people for something. We have phrases like line up, get in line, cutting the line, wait in line to go with it.

[BDUBZ]

Laurence's American accent needs to make more appearances. Love it.

[lizboettcher]

I'm American, and a papercrafter. I follow one or two British crafters on YouTube, and when I first started watching them, it took me a while to figure out what they meant by "kitchen roll" ... I call it paper towels! 😁

[GutarJohn]

As another person commented: In IT in the US, we use the word "queue" A LOT. Often referring to the print queue for a printer, but also in other cases.

[bryndelmano]

Almost twenty years ago, when I taught second grade, I had "Queue" as the "Word of the Day". I'll bet the one student who thought it was great, still uses it.

[Ziegque]

I grew up in one part of the Midwest and now live in another. Peckish and cheeky are familiar to me, but I don’t often hear them in everyday speech; they are probably more familiar to older generations and those who are well read. Queue has entered American usage through exposure to British television shows, I think. As an American, if you use words like peckish and queue, you will probably get a look that says, “who is he trying to impress?”

[NHT]

How have I gone so many years watching this cheeky bastard without subscribing? Well, that ends today!

[steveszigethy]

Speaking of queues, my mom is from NJ near NYC and says she's standing "on line, " while my Dad is from NJ closer to Philly (where I also grew up), where we stand "in line." Madness.

[benjaminklein]

I think the word Queue has come up for me in America when referring to two things: digital queues for managing data tickets at my job, and referring to the physical space in which people stand in line for theme park attractions. For instance, “Both Disney and Universal spend much time and money developing intricately themed queues for their e-ticket attractions.” It’s a great word that needs to be used more often.