I have seen grammar and spelling comments given in the spirit of helpfulness, but this was not one of them, and adds nothing.
My comment adds very little more than that, but I'd like to remind people that many very smart engineers and business workers have a terrible grasp of formal English, yet they get the job done and more. WalterBright's comment was short, but pointed to more information, and was a potentially useful comment. The discussion should be about the content of his comment.
The fact that he used the wrong word is virtually irrelevant, we all knew what he meant. Yes, if you have a strong grasp of formal English you do make yourself seem more credible, especially in a formal context. But it's not the thing to focus on. Not here.
S/N on HN is amazingly high, but it is still a casual forum, and we should all cut each other generous slack.
derleth, I can't reply to your reply to the above reply. (Follow?)
As I pointed out, you have edited your reply, with no indication that it was edited.
Your original reply was not helpful. You were taking the opportunity to ridicule someone, with sarcasm. Your current version (assuming no further edits) would at best have no downvotes. Your original version deserved every downvote it got (none of which were supplied by me).
I assume you yourself know this, otherwise you wouldn't have done the edit.
EDIT: added the following: "I'd understand this better if people didn't always pick the longer word when the short one would be correct."
The fact that one word is shorter in this case is not what made the original usage wrong. Length had nothing to do with it. It was merely wrong.
You didn't even tell him the right word -- if you wanted to help him learn English, you might say something to the effect of:
queue -- noun. A first-in, first-out data structure, such as a supermarket line, or processes to be scheduled naively.
cue -- verb. To prepare for, to bring up, to introduce, typically used as a command. Also noun. an indication that it is time to do something, cf. "that's our cue!". Also used in the phrase "on cue", meaning timely.
The thing that bugs me here is that if you honestly consider it, in some situations either word could be used for more or less the same effect.
For example: "Cue the complaints". Surely "Queue the complaints.", meaning that the complaints should start lining up, gets across the same meaning (which is of course "oh great, here come complaints").
This doesn't always work of course ("That's our queue" has an entirely different meaning), however where I see most complaints about "mis-usage", either actually works.
But that's simply invalid English, as 'queue' is a noun, not a verb. Enqueue is the verb form, and nobody would ever say, "enqueue the complaints." :-)
"The most important principle on HN, though, is to make thoughtful comments. Thoughtful in both senses: both civil and substantial."
"Empty comments can be ok if they're positive. There's nothing wrong with submitting a comment saying just "Thanks." What we especially discourage are comments that are empty and negative—comments that are mere name-calling."
I believe this particular usage of queue is correct english. You can see it on the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance" where Nigel will often say "queue music" meaning "start the music."
'Queue' is not quite a direct replacement for 'see', there is an additional nuance that what follows it is obvious or inevitable, which is why I used it.
I also understand that many HN readers are not native English speakers, and have varying levels of mastery of the language. I would also agree that obscure usage of high falutin' words for the purpose of peacocking is annoying.
But using them to add color and nuance is appropriate.
"I believe this particular usage of queue is correct english. You can see it on the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance" where Nigel will often say "queue music" meaning "start the music."
In the way that you used it, I believe it was wrong.
"Cue whatever ..." comes from movie and other media production, as in "Cue the Gimp!" It's a notice that the actor playing the Gimp should assume his next physical location in the production and be ready to act. See scythe's explanation.
This kind of mistake is very common, and comes from having heard phrases without having seen them in print. We then fit whatever written word we're most familiar with, or assume, on to the phrase. I'm guessing that's what happened here.
The analogue is reading an unfamiliar name or word and then, never having heard it in speech, not knowing how to pronounce it. This happens to me enough to notice.
It's probably clear enough that the word you were searching for is cue, but it strikes me that in the age of Instapaper, ReadItLater and their ilk, your use of queue isn't entirely off the mark.
The British "queue up" when joining a line in wait for something. As do my print jobs. The comment is submitting a topic for next consideration, so what's wrong the usage here?
Its traditionally "Cue" which can be a reminder , so "Cue the current thread" means "take a look at this current thread" not "get in line for this thread".
I say this having read the original term phonetically and not even realizing the mistake which is likely common and really didn't need to be editorialized.
I'd understand this better if people didn't always pick the longer word when the short one would be correct.