Stand in / on line
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When you queue up, do you "stand in line" or "stand on line"?
This question was prompted by Nick Tursi who remarked:
Two of my colleagues are both from Brooklyn. They frequently say standing / waiting “on line” rather than “in line” when referring to queueing
Prepositions are iffy things, but I don't think we'd have the same ambiguity with "in" when it comes to "stand on ceremony" or "stand on" when used in the nautical sense of continue following the same course.
Stand by while I stand in for a friend who needs a backup at his work today.
Meanwhile, listen to Etymology Nerd speak in rapid fire fashion on how prepositions are becoming less important after verbs now:
Selected readings
- "Dispatch with, dispense from, dispel with, …" (8/18/17)
- "Dispatch with, dispense from, dispel with, …" (4/24/16)
- "The thin line between error and mere variation (part 1 of 2)" (6/29/04)
- "Ambiguity watch: failing families, killing New Yorkers" (9/17/12)
- "Spatial gender" (3/24/05)
- "'Please wait outside a noodle'" (12/29/20)
- "Drawing a line in the noodles" (8/14/11)
[Thanks to Laura Morland]
Philip Taylor said,
February 1, 2025 @ 8:25 am
When you queue up, do you "stand in line" or "stand on line" ? — Well, being British, I do neither: I simply "form a queue". Children at British schools may well be told to "stand in line", but they are not queueing per se.
C Baker said,
February 1, 2025 @ 8:49 am
Standing or waiting on line is widespread in the NYC area. From the way people talk about it as a distinguishing feature of the NYC dialect I suspect it's not heard much outside of the NYC metropolitan area.
J.W. Brewer said,
February 1, 2025 @ 8:56 am
The standard explanation you hear for "on" as a regionalism in the U.S. in this context is that it is calqued from Yiddish and/or German. I can't however actually confirm that from my rusty knowledge of current standard German, other than of course a general sense that there is no one-to-one mapping of prepositions and "auf" sometimes corresponds to English "on" and other times would be more idiomatically translated as "in." But I don't know whether "auf" would pop up in the in/on line context in German (current or in some dialect common among 19th-century immigrants to the U.S.) and I know nothing about how preposition usage in Yiddish may vary from current standard German although it certainly wouldn't surprise me if it did.
Maddy said,
February 1, 2025 @ 9:05 am
My dad grew up in Manhattan and said "stand on line," "get on line," and the rest of us—Philly-born mom, DC-raised kids—gave him a hard time about it. Fwiw, Mom from Philly was the only one who had known Yiddish-speaking relatives and she has "in," as did all the Philly relatives back to those born in the 19th c.
Robert Coren said,
February 1, 2025 @ 10:20 am
I grew up in New York City, but have spent my entire adult life in the Boston area. I stand "in line"; I do not remember whether I grew up standing "on line", but I don't think so.
Lillie said,
February 1, 2025 @ 10:49 am
New Yorker here. I wait on line. :)
Alex said,
February 1, 2025 @ 11:09 am
I grew up in the greater NYC area with both parents also from the area. "In/on line" are essentially interchangeable for me, but more frequently I find myself saying "on line". Though I live in California currently, and frequently confuse friends who naturally interpret it as "online" = "on the Internet"!
neil. said,
February 1, 2025 @ 11:17 am
@Philip Taylor, would "form a queue" be closer to "get in line" than "stand in line"?
Ron Irving said,
February 1, 2025 @ 11:22 am
As a native Long Islander, I said "on line" and didn't know there was an alternative. Twelve years in the Boston area didn't change me, but after 43 1/2 years in Seattle, I've succumbed. I now stand in line, and every time I hear myself say it, I realize a precious piece of my heritage is gone.
Philip Taylor said,
February 1, 2025 @ 11:42 am
[W]ould "form a queue" be closer to "get in line" than "stand in line" — I honestly don't know, Neil. "Get in line", if an imperative, would suggest to me that those so instructed had assembled, but not in an orderly manner, whilst "Stand in line" would suggest that they were not yet even assembled, tho' all were in earshot. "Form a queue", whether or not an imperative, could apply equally to either group.
James said,
February 1, 2025 @ 1:14 pm
I was raised in NYC. I believe I said only "on line" until my late twenties, and now they're completely interchangeable for me. My dad, who grew up in the Bronx and lived his entire life in NYC, said exclusively "on line"; my mom says both (she also grew up in NYC but her parents were from New England).
Coby said,
February 1, 2025 @ 1:38 pm
"On" can have some peculiar uses in US English.
"On line" for "in line" is but one example.
Sports commentators say "on the season" when they mean "over (or in the course of) the season", as in "20 points on the season".
"On sale" can mean either "for sale at a reduced price" or simply "for sale".
Mark P said,
February 1, 2025 @ 2:49 pm
In NASA speak, apparently satellites are on orbit rather than in orbit. It sounds wrong to me, but in my business, we might talk about an object traveling on a trajectory, and using in would sound wrong. So, I would say something traveled on its trajectory to reach the point that it was in orbit.
It’s possible that in aerospace usage, being on orbit carries some connotations in addition to simply the state of being in an orbit.
David Morris said,
February 1, 2025 @ 3:59 pm
Definitely 'in line' for me (more-or-less standard Aus Eng). I have never encountered 'on line' (in this context) here.
To me, a line can be < < < < < (to buy a ticket) or ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ (students facing a teacher). A queue can only be the first.
Steve Hartman Keiser said,
February 1, 2025 @ 4:40 pm
Follow up question on lines. What do you call it when someone gets in front of you in line without permission? You might need to channel your 10-year-old self: "Hey! No ____!" Regional variants in the US include: cutting/cuts, line-jumping, skipping/skips, ditching, butting, budging.
Yves Rehbein said,
February 1, 2025 @ 4:54 pm
@ J. W. Brewer, in German we stand ~ in the line, ~ line, or ~ on-, perhaps ~ in file and rank, but not on line or anything. To be *on the line means that it is my turn, I am up, next in line …
I do not know Yiddish or Dutch but I suggest that Dutch was spoken in Manhattan. If we go even earlier eventually the difference becomes muddled, Old French or Latin also stand in wait, if you'll excuse the pun. Low German is unfamiliar to me but I picked up on participles in German Low German usage in passing, which sounded like the German infinitive to my ears. Then there is auxiliary usage in Dutch:
"Hij heeft een hele tijd staan telefoneren." https://nl.wiktionary.org/wiki/staan
* He haveth an whole time stay-in' telephoning
He was in/on a call for a long time
DCA said,
February 1, 2025 @ 5:23 pm
"on orbit" is I think "has reached its planned orbit" which in turn means "OK, the tricky part is over". Satellite insurance comes in three flavors: pre-launch, launch to on orbit, on orbit. The policies are not necessarily written by the same company, which can create its own problems. On one occasion the first policy lapsed at ignition but the second one didn't start until the holddown clamps released and the rocket started to move. So a fourth policy was needed for the.15-second gap.
Mike Anderson said,
February 1, 2025 @ 5:41 pm
Sometimes at the public library I must wait IN line to get ONLINE.
When I taught a unit on queueing theory, we referred to clients "in a queue," never "on a queue." When I was involved in computer science, things were never put in line or taken out of line, they were QUEUED or DEQUEUED. That's all I got, thank queue.
Jonathan Smith said,
February 1, 2025 @ 5:46 pm
"queue up" has got to be more everyday than "form a queue" in UK? And people seem to have started saying it here in the U.S. as it happens…
Re "cut [in line]" FWIW now the youngs say "can I cut you in line?" and such.
Jonathan Smith said,
February 1, 2025 @ 5:50 pm
and since I just heard it from UKers, I guess I was wrong that "catch you up" = "catch up to you OR with you [when you're ahead of me]" was a US regionalism. Recently heard "where should we catch you up at?" in U.S. south which version I guess won't travel so well…
C Baker said,
February 1, 2025 @ 6:02 pm
I thought of something else, which it never occurred to me might be a New Yorkism until somebody mentioned it on the NYC subreddit – when you're waiting on line at the store, and they would like the next customer to approach the register, they will tell the following customer to step down. (Which might come out as just "Following" or "Step down", of course.)
But I don't know if this is really limited to the city or not – I haven't done much shopping anywhere else in my life.
Philip Taylor said,
February 1, 2025 @ 6:31 pm
Steve — « What do you [say] when someone gets in front of you in [a queue] without permission ? » "Hey, no queue-jumping !"
David Marjanović said,
February 1, 2025 @ 7:11 pm
Can't be from German, where the verb is schlangestehen – "stand snake", no preposition at all – because the noun is Schlange or Warteschlange "waiting-snake".
(The dictionaries, especially after the spelling reform of 1998–2005, probably recommend Schlange stehen. I find that silly, like Auto fahren "go by car" or Schi fahren "ski". It goes against the long-term trend of verb prefixation.)
Chips Mackinolty said,
February 1, 2025 @ 9:34 pm
Two way radio talk? One is "on air" never "in air".
John Swindle said,
February 2, 2025 @ 12:29 am
In radio broadcast (as opposed to two-way radio) I imagine it's still "on air" or "on the air." I imagine a lighted sign saying "on air" and everyone reading it as "on the air."
Chas Belov said,
February 2, 2025 @ 3:10 am
I wait in line.
People cut in line.
Satellites are in orbit.
Eastern and Western PA, Connecticut, Northern California
Philip Taylor said,
February 2, 2025 @ 6:40 am
Jonathan — "queue up" has got to be more everyday than "form a queue" in UK ? — Not convinced about the "up" part: one "queues" for a 'bus, one does not "queue up". But if there is a major motorway traffic accident, one might say "the traffic was queueing up for several miles". It seems (introspection) that when one is queueing, one expects to progress; when one is queueing up, one has a potentially interminable wait ahead of one.
Rodger C said,
February 2, 2025 @ 11:18 am
Johnny Carson would say "waiting on line," which struck me as odd because he was from Nebraska and broadcast from Los Angeles.
Linda Seebach said,
February 2, 2025 @ 2:31 pm
I grew up in Valley Stream, which is in Nassau County but shares its western border with Queens. So "in line," but more generally, Nassau and Suffolk are on Long Island, while Queens and Brooklyn are in the city. The linguistic border is quite sharp. When I was growing up, we had neighbors who had moved to Long Island from the city, and their kids were ruthlessly corrected until they adopted normal speech. Oil burner, not erl boiner. And never "Long Guyland." That's what people in the city called the place where we lived.
CuConnacht said,
February 2, 2025 @ 4:27 pm
Roger C, Carson lived in New York (or the area) from 1957 until 1972, when the Tonight Show moved to Burbank. Maybe he had never had to wait in line in Nebraska.
I grew up in NYC saying "on line" but changed to the local dialect when I found myself confusing people after leaving New York decades ago.
DaveK said,
February 2, 2025 @ 5:23 pm
Jonathan Smith: I’m quite familiar with “catch you up” as a bit of business jargon, as in “let me catch you up on what you missed while you were out”. I’ve never heard it used to refer to physical movement.
Gobbledyglot said,
February 2, 2025 @ 9:17 pm
@.neil: would "form a queue" be closer to "get in line" than "stand in line"?
The fact is, we in England don't all speak like Philip Taylor, or share his preferences for how the language ought to be spoken.
"Forming" a queue means something specific to me, which is more than simply being in a line or joining it. So there is the simple act of 1. queuing, 2. queuing up (which I think is mildly off in formal use, and possibly confused with "cueing up", which is a valid usage, as is "lining up"), 3. joining a queue, and 4. forming a queue.
Queuing and queuing up would generally be seen as close to identical in meaning, though possibly queuing up would be considered the same as joining a queue; and forming a queue is another thing again. So there are at least three actions or states involved, and they are not simply interchangeable, though there is probably a certain amount of crossover. Anyone who says "form a queue" is the first term they'd reach for is, to my ear, trying a little hard to hold to standards that were disappearing by the 1940s. The idea that most of us say it that way? No.
Philip Taylor said,
February 3, 2025 @ 6:33 am
Gobbledyglot — If you care to look back, you will see that I wrote « Well, being British, I do neither: I simply "form a queue" ». Specifically "I", not "all Britons". Do you not agree with my hypothesis that "queueing up" usually implies a longer projected wait than simply "queueing" ?
Christian Weisgerber said,
February 3, 2025 @ 3:45 pm
German has "anstehen" (prefixed verb), "Schlange stehen" (no preposition), or, if you're talking about a particular line, "in der Schlange stehen" (in). None are a model for standing "on line".
Terry K. said,
February 3, 2025 @ 3:46 pm
From Philip Taylor: Well, being British, I do neither: I simply "form a queue".
Doesn't it take more than one person to form a queue? What is that a single person waiting in a queue is doing? Or a single person joining the end of an existing queue?
Terry K. said,
February 3, 2025 @ 3:47 pm
From David Morris: To me, a line can be < < < < < (to buy a ticket) or ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ (students facing a teacher). A queue can only be the first.
I agree, however, for me, "stand in line" can only refer to the first. The 2nd would be "stand in a line" or "stand in the line".
Jonathan Smith said,
February 3, 2025 @ 4:06 pm
Interesting re: 'queue (up)' etc.
Related but slightly different is if you want to tell someone to 'get in line' — can one still say 'hey you gotta get on line' in say NY? Or 'on line' is only the state? UK…?
@DaveK — catch you up = physically catch up to you is definitely catching on, don't be caught out :D
Philip Taylor said,
February 3, 2025 @ 4:25 pm
Terry — "Doesn't it take more than one person to form a queue ?" — I'm not entirely certain that it does. If, for example, a checkout is currently closed, and I am waiting for it to open, I think that I might reasonably be said to be queueing for the till, even though I am the sole member of the queue. Certainly in informatics a queue can be empty, have a single member, or have multiple members, but the "queueness" is unaffected. See also https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/one-person-queue.659542/, where this issue was discussed in 2007.
Gobbeldyglot said,
February 3, 2025 @ 9:10 pm
@Philip Taylor 'If you care to look back, you will see that I wrote « Well, being British, I do neither: I simply "form a queue" ». Specifically "I", not "all Britons".'
And you will see that I didn't say you claim to speak for all Britons (good word that). I expect though that "being British" came across somewhat as taking it upon yourself to speak for many of us rather than only yourself, as "you" may be British, but "British" isn't "you", it's us, making your statement a little less exclusive to yourself than "I like orange juice". Being British (oops) I was tickled by your "Neither. I simply form a queue" angle. For some reason, perhaps my natural flippancy, it calls to mind Freddie Threepwood, with "I have here, Aunt Georgiana, a few simple rats."
Philip Taylor said,
February 4, 2025 @ 10:52 am
« I expect though that "being British" came across somewhat as taking it upon yourself to speak for many of us rather than only yourself » — perhaps that is how it came across to you, Gobbeldyglot, but what was intended was rather "Not being an American (or any other nationality that uses "line" where Britons use "queue", I "form a queue". No suggestion that what I do is indicative of what others do — they may, of course, do exactly as they please.
Yerushalmi said,
February 5, 2025 @ 8:06 am
Brooklyn-born, NJ-raised. I stand on line.