[Jukebox-list] etymological

[Bob Ellingson]

At 02:09 PM 2/22/2008 -0800, you wrote:
>David Breneman wrote:
>
>> Queue is the British word, as in "Were were in a queue in front
>> of the theatre."  I suppose it's adoption in America is akin to
>> the pronunciation change from hur-ASS to HAIR-uss for the
>> word "harass".  It sounds oh so cultured.  :-)
>
>I think the use of "queue" comes from mathematics/computers and geeks 
>entering the mainstream.  Queueing is often used to describe packet flow 
>on networks, email transfer, etc.

Oh, it's much older than that...the pigtail worn by Chinese "coolies" in the
19th century were called "queues".  Think of Hop Sing on "Bonanza"!

--Bob
=======================================================================
Bob Ellingson					bobe at halted.com
Halted Specialties Co., Inc.			http://www.halted.com
3500 Ryder St.					(408) 732-1573
Santa Clara, Calif. 95051  USA			(408) 732-6428 (FAX)