"in line" or "on line"

[OleMissCub]

"...so I went and stood in line for two hours"

 

or

 

"...so I went and stood on line for two hours"

 

 

Which do you use? I've recently heard several people in Denver use "on line". I'd never heard that before. I'm guessing it is a regional thing.

[dew1679666265]

This is almost like the Sara Lee question.

 

It's "in line." "On line" doesn't even make sense.

[MPC]

"...so I went and stood in line for two hours"

 

or

 

"...so I went and stood on line for two hours"

 

 

Which do you use? I've recently heard several people in Denver use "on line". I'd never heard that before. I'm guessing it is a regional thing.

 

it doesn't fit your denver experience, but i've heard "on line" is an east coast expression.

[imb]

"like you're waiting on line.... at the bank? HO"

[manbearcub]

maybe it was a computer line

[Schwarber Fan]

Well this a barn burner

[nilodnayr]

wow, no one fron NY here?

[sweetpeteman]

Hedley Lamarr: Qualifications?

Gum Chewer: [chewing gum] Murder... armed robbery... mayhem...

Hedley Lamarr: Wait a moment. What have you got in your mouth?

Gum Chewer: [stops chewing] Nuff'm.

Hedley Lamarr: "Nuff'm", eh? Lyle!

Lyle: [searches the man's mouth] Gum!

Hedley Lamarr: Chewing gum on line, eh? I hope you brought enough for everybody.

Gum Chewer: [panicked] I didn't know there was going to be so many!

[Hedley shoots the gum chewer]

Jim: [hidden behind a rock] Boy, is he strict!

[Skyballer]

From Jersey, living east of Denver and I say "in line"

[XZero771679666304]

I have never heard anyone say there were standing "on line" in my life. If I did, I would probably ask them wtf they were talking about.

[CubmanPi]

Hedley Lamarr: Qualifications?

Gum Chewer: [chewing gum] Murder... armed robbery... mayhem...

Hedley Lamarr: Wait a moment. What have you got in your mouth?

Gum Chewer: [stops chewing] Nuff'm.

Hedley Lamarr: "Nuff'm", eh? Lyle!

Lyle: [searches the man's mouth] Gum!

Hedley Lamarr: Chewing gum on line, eh? I hope you brought enough for everybody.

Gum Chewer: [panicked] I didn't know there was going to be so many!

[Hedley shoots the gum chewer]

Jim: [hidden behind a rock] Boy, is he strict!

Yea, but Hedey was the bad guy, so it doesn't count.

[OleMissCub]

Well, I wasn't imagining it. It looks to definitely be a New England thing:

 

http://www4.uwm.edu//FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_93.html

[Jon]

Hedley Lamarr: Qualifications?

Gum Chewer: [chewing gum] Murder... armed robbery... mayhem...

Hedley Lamarr: Wait a moment. What have you got in your mouth?

Gum Chewer: [stops chewing] Nuff'm.

Hedley Lamarr: "Nuff'm", eh? Lyle!

Lyle: [searches the man's mouth] Gum!

Hedley Lamarr: Chewing gum on line, eh? I hope you brought enough for everybody.

Gum Chewer: [panicked] I didn't know there was going to be so many!

[Hedley shoots the gum chewer]

Jim: [hidden behind a rock] Boy, is he strict!

Yea, but Hedey was the bad guy, so it doesn't count.

It's Hedley.

 

It took a good 15 minute google search at one point to figure out that 1874 joke.

 

It's the only time I've heard "on line" used in that way, though.

[dew1679666265]

Hedley Lamarr: Qualifications?

Gum Chewer: [chewing gum] Murder... armed robbery... mayhem...

Hedley Lamarr: Wait a moment. What have you got in your mouth?

Gum Chewer: [stops chewing] Nuff'm.

Hedley Lamarr: "Nuff'm", eh? Lyle!

Lyle: [searches the man's mouth] Gum!

Hedley Lamarr: Chewing gum on line, eh? I hope you brought enough for everybody.

Gum Chewer: [panicked] I didn't know there was going to be so many!

[Hedley shoots the gum chewer]

Jim: [hidden behind a rock] Boy, is he strict!

Yea, but Hedey was the bad guy, so it doesn't count.

 

I watched that part of Blazing Saddles the other day. The "on line" part stuck out like a sore thumb.

[E.J.]

I'm gonna start saying on line just so I can be different.

[manbearcub]

I'm gonna start saying on line just so I can be different.

Your mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.

[Mike Aller]

I use in line, but I have friends in New York who use "on line."

[Skyballer]

Now that I think about it, if i was talking past tense i would say i was standing on line. Call me crazy but that's how I've always said it, just never really thought about it.

[Vanilla Ice]

62-0

 

don't see that often

[Derwood]

most lopsided poll since my loss to NewUserName in the first round of the NSBB poster tournament

[Ding Dong Johnson]

re-watching some Curb last night, I heard Mr. Larry David use "on line" in the episode titled The Ida Funkhouser Roadside Memorial

[dew1679666265]

I just noticed another reference for the "on-line" version of the saying. Futurama episode "The Why of Fry" had Leela saying:

"Poor Fry used to stand on-line for six hours just for tickets."

 

I've seen this episode numerous times and never noticed til just now.

[Vanilla Ice]

up to 69-0

[Schwarber Fan]

dammit, who lied to break up the shutout?

[Derwood]

I heard Anderson Cooper use the term "on line" on AC360 last night