"Que"s "literally" "peak" my interest

I’m no Grammar Girl, but I’ve noticed an interesting string of common mistakes recently that I thought I would share–

My first issue is with the word that describes people or things waiting in line: queue. In just the last month I have seen it spelled “cue,” as in the cue ball in pool, “que,” as in “what?” in Spanish, or as in the abbreviation for Quebec. I’m afraid that I take this one personally because I use queueing theory frequently to solve scheduling problems in order to reduce waiting times. Here in America, we say “I’m gonna get in line,” while in England, they say “I’m going to join the queue.”

One mistake that makes me snicker out loud sometimes is when “literally” is used instead of “figuratively.” Remember that old MADtv sketch where the couple used the word literally in every sentence? No? Too bad, we couldn’t find the video. According to linguist Geoffrey Nunberg, “In 1909, Ambrose Bierce commented, ‘It is bad enough to exaggerate, but to affirm the truth of the exaggeration is intolerable.’” You’re not literally bored as a fence post from reading this, you’re figuratively bored as a fence post. See?

Mountains have peaks, as do meringues and electricity usage. If someone is really interested in something, then their interest is piqued, meaning “to excite or arouse,” as in curiosity. It is from the French word, piquer, meaning “to prick.” It may be interesting to note that the words “piquant” (French for spicy or “pleasantly tart”) and “picante” (Spanish, as in the sauce) also share the same common Latin ancestor–piccare. So when something gets your attention, it “arouses” (piques) your attention, not “takes your attention to its limit” (peaks).

What about you? What grammar oddities have literally piqued your interest? Queue up below.