No, what I'm wondering is, why we can't just all agree on how to spell it. My vote is a little traditional: I'd go for 'barbecue' which just seems right, given that the word came from 'barbacoa' - a sort of outdoor arrangement of sticks for cooking meat in the Caribbean. Oh and the fact that it's spelled like that in the 'ahem' dictionary 'ahem'...
Here's what I think happened: at some point, many moons ago, someone couldn't remember what kind of 'cue' it was. They probably toyed with 'barbequeue' or even 'barbeque' but realised that it didn't look quite right.
So they just stuck a Q on the end. Why not? It makes the same sound? What does it matter?
Meanwhile the Australians just avoided the tricky problem altogether and decided they'd all call it a 'barbie'. Fair enough - seems like a sensible solution, now crack open the tinnies. Even better in South Africa, where they simply upturned an oil drum, set it alight and called it a braai.
The rest of us just went along with the Q idea until someone took it further, abbreviating the entire word to three gigantic letters on posters. Everyone knows what that means. BBQ. Though it's a bit trickier when kids (as I did) ask what it stands for, and then look confused when it turns out to stand for just one single word and not three.
Ah, but perhaps that's why the invite was split into three distinct parts! That would make sense. Think BBQ, write bar.. um...b...q!
It'll be fun though, I hope. I quite like the smell of sizzling meat floating across a garden, the cloud of spicy smoke and the chatter of friends holding paper plates in the dusk. It could have been worse, I could have been invited to a Barbie Queue.
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