on the queue / in the queue / in queue

[milan2003_07]

Hi,

1) Where is your wife? - She is on the queue

2) Where is your wife? - She is in the queue

3) Where is your wife? - She is in/on queue

Which options are idiomatic to speak about a person who is queuing (up)?

Best

 

[5jj]

In British English, she is in the queue.

 

[milan2003_07]

In British English, she is in the queue.

Thanks. Do we use "the" even when speaking about queueing in general without mentioning a particular queue?

 

[5jj]

Thanks. Do we use "the" even when speaking about queueing in general without mentioning a particular queue?

Well, if we don't know which queue she's in, we probably don't know she is in a queue.

I suppose that if I lived in a city in which queuing for basic necessities was a part of normal life, I could say, "She's in a queue somewhere".

 

[emsr2d2]

Or "She is queuing."

 

[Barb_D]

That seems like a very valuable word in Scrabble.

More to the point: Americans line up or stand in line. We rarely "queue" as people, though we talk about the print queue, or a computer job in the queue.