"wait/stand on line" in the UK?

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

I've only heard "stand in the [kyu]" in England, not "line."

------Original Message------
From: Arnold Zwicky
Sender: ADS-L
To: ADS-L
ReplyTo: ADS-L
Sent: Nov 29, 2008 12:47 PM
Subject: [ADS-L] "wait/stand on line" in the UK?

a correspondent writes:

I've noticed in the Black Friday coverage lots of comments from
shoppers about waiting "on line" for several hours, a construction
I've noticed several times in the past few years. Growing up in the
midwest I always said I was waiting IN line; I was unfamiliar with the
"on line" construction until I lived in the UK.

.....

i replied that "wait/stand on line" is a famous feature of NYC speech,
and that i hadn't seen reports of it from the UK.  i also suggested
that the Black Friday coverage with "wait on line" in it originated in
NYC.

but does anyone have sightings of the expression in the UK (except
from people who grew up in NYC or very close to it)?

arnold

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