when you buy something.. do you get IN line or ON line?

[toddzilla]

i need to re-phrase this.. Pretend you are telling a story to someone..



do you say.. "so, i was IN line at the grocery store.."


or .. "so i get to the bank, go in and get ON line.."


not to be confused with shopping via the internet.

[Gephard]

1. I stand on line.

[KCDem]

2. depends.

groceries, shoes, most clothes--in.
books, CDs, dvds, toys for the kids--on

[Djinn]

3. i'm one of those freaks

that's never had a credit card - I'd prob be in jail by now - can't even live within my means without credit so I'm lining up at the shop with all the other luddites!

[hlthe2b]

4. depends how quickly I need it...

I generally weigh any savings online against shipping costs and sales tax if I were to buy locally and then decide if I have time to get it shipped to me. Time is $$$ too, sometimes so local stores can take comfort that I won't always go for the online savings. I try to frequent Denver's Tattered Cover bookstore for that reason, since I want to keep some local stores going. I do pay a premium for doing so, though (an aside: some of you may remember TC going to bat against the Assskkkkroftians over book sales records, so I feel good supporting them).

If, however, it is a store that is notorious for bad service, long lines to check out, etc., I'll buy online every time.

[Kenneth ken]

5. where's the Brits?

I thought on line was a Brit term. Actually, I guessed queued up is more Brit.

Anyway, 'cause I like the phrasing better, I typically wait on line till my turn to pay.

ps - do not confuse on line with online(via computer) which is not the question toddzilla asked. edit- toddzilla's edit wasn't there when I started my reply.

[hlthe2b]

6. Given Edits: NEEEEEEEEEEEEVER MIND!

[Scott Lee]

7. Depends on locality

When I am in the West, I'm "in line".

When I'm in New England or the New York area, I'm "on line".

[MaineDem]

19. I've never heard "on line" in New England

It's always been in-line for me.

[tridim]

8. Scary, I was thinking about this exact topic

earlier today. I have no idea why.

I stand "in line", but noticed "on line" was used almost exclusively when I lived NYC. It still sounds weird IMO.

[Xandor]

9. Me: in. My wife: on. She's from NYC

[welshTerrier2]

10. Depends where you're from

when i lived in NY, we said "ON" line ...

here in MA, we say "IN" line ...

the one the locals really get on my case about is: sliding pond

in NY, we used to call that playground thing you climbed up and then slid down a sliding pond ... got me some pretty strange looks up here in MA ... i guess the rest of the world refers to it as a slide ...

[starroute]

13. I'm from New York, but I use both

Mostly "on line" when I add myself to the back of an established queue. But it seem to me that when I was a kid in school and they wanted a bunch of us to line up, they'd tell us to get "in line" -- because obviously you can't get on a line when there's no line there yet to get on. Also, a lot of the time they just wanted us standing side by side so they could divide us into groups or something -- there was no front or back and we weren't queuing up for anything.

As a side note, it's nice to run into another "sliding pond" person. One day when I was in my first year of college, someone was going up and down the hallway quizzing people about whether they knew the term. It turned out, it was only used in New York City, and not even all of that -- I think only in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and certain sections of Manhattan.

When I went home that Christmas, I asked my grandmother if she'd used the term when she was a kid. (She was born in 1890.) She said that when it snowed, they would stomp down a patch of snow and then keep going back and forth over it until it melted and refroze as ice. Then they would take turns running at it and sliding across it standing up. That's what they called a sliding pond. Somehow, the term later got transferred to playground slides.

[trof]

20. And breaking in line was a cardinal sin

in school. Teacher would send you to the back of the line.
I never heard of anyone breaking "on" line.

[BurtWorm]

17. My wife calls those sliding ponds.

She's NYC born and bred. You have to admit, it's a weird expression. Where did the pond come from? What is pondish about a slide?

We all stand on line in this family. But we now refer to those non-pondish pieces of playground equipment as slides. ;)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

11. NYC thing

On line

[supernova]

12. Neither

I find a cashier where there is no line. :evilgrin:

[UrbScotty]

14. I'm still in the 20th Century.

Oh well.

[oustemnow]

15. The only time I'm "on line" is in front of the computer

I'm told that it's an east coast/west coast variation, but I grew up on the east coast and currently live in Cali, and I've never heard anyone say, "Excuse me, are you on line?" when I'm at the coffee shop, etc, on either coast.

[mitchtv]

16. I always wait 'on line'

I didn't know it is because I am from NYC. I have been corrected in Calif., but I like NY isms- like dungarees and stoops

[VOX]

18. "On line" is an East Coast thing, like "package store"...

I'm on the West Coast, so I wait "in line" at the "liquor store."

BTW, I do so much more than that! :toast: