A Word About Barbecue

The word is barbecue. That's barbecue with a "c." Barbeque is just a misspelled word. BBQ is the only acceptable abbreviation of barbecue. Why? Because the purpose of an abbreviation is to shorten a word. Bar-B-Q is not significantly shorter and Bar-B-Que is actually one character longer. Stick to BBQ.

If you catch me using anything other than barbecue or BBQ, it's because I'm referring to a restaurant that has chosen to misspell it's name. Otherwise, I made a typo.

Most important, no self-respecting individual refers to BBQ as 'cue. I've lived in Memphis all of my life. No one here says that. I've asked around. No one says it. Only ill-informed journalists and TV folk use such non-existent slang. It hurts my ears when they say it. Don't say it.