We know you're waiting to vote, among other bits and pieces of waiting. But as you're waiting in reportedly long lines, what exactly are you muttering in your mind, or tweeting to your followers, or posting on your Facebook page, or texting to your friends? "Still waiting on line; meet me later for a drink, I'm gonna need it!" or "I'm still in line; they're longer than they were at Whole Foods pre #Sandy!"? It's the age-old question of on line versus in line rearing its head again, as Wordnik.com reminded us on this particular electoral day of waiting. It's like the great pop vs. soda vs. Coke debate, a look at America based on the strange and stranger ways in which we speak. So, which way do you say it? On or in? If you're the Brooklyn-born Joan Rivers, you say it like this:

Left Dr Nicholas and my gorgeous shorts behind and now back to find my darling Eric on line and vote. Perfect timing! twitter.com/Joan_Rivers/st…

— Joan Rivers (@Joan_Rivers) November 6, 2012

As @Wordnik tweeted earlier, a PBS piece by linguist and author Deborah Tannen shed some light on the subject. Tannen writes that though American-English is ostensibly all the same, we have our own geographically based ways of speaking it, with expressions and pronunciations native and exclusive to certain areas. When I moved from Chicago to Alabama as a kid, for instance, I started pronouncing roof with an oo instead of an oof sound, and pajahmas instead of pa-JAM-as. But I definitely stood in, and not on, line in both places, unless I was quite literally standing on a line, possibly one drawn in chalk. Tannen writes, "Even though people all over the country speak English, the ways they let others know how they mean what they say—whether they’re being friendly, ironic, or rude—can be very different ... Plenty has been said about the New York accent—pronunciation of vowels (cawfee), consonants (tree for three), leaving out some r’s (toidy-toid street) and putting others in (Linder Ronstadt). And much has been said about vocabulary—if you say dungarees instead of jeans; if you stand in line or, as only a New Yorker can do, stand on line."

From Paul Brian's Common Errors in English Usage, "As for real physical lines, the British and New Yorkers wait 'on line' (in queues), but most Americans wait 'in line.'” As for which is correct, it appears to be mostly a matter of taste. According to the Dialect Survey, in answer to the question "When you stand outside with a long line of people waiting to get in somewhere, are you standing in line or on line?" 5.49% of people used on and 88.30% of people said in. Here are the maps of where those uses primarily appeared: 

And, from today, a few examples from around the Internet:

Even Big Bird has to wait in line to vote [photo by @ralphbarrera] twitter.com/daily/status/2…

— The Daily (@daily) November 6, 2012

11 Things To Do While You Wait In Line To Vote: ow.ly/f4rPF

— Funny Or Die (@funnyordie) November 6, 2012

"People who are standing in line ... I encourage you to stand in line as long as you have to" - Biden huff.to/Rezm1E

— HuffPostDetroit (@HuffPostDetroit) November 6, 2012

Reminder: Poll sites are open until 9 p.m. today. If you're in line by 9 p.m., you can't be turned away. #NYC #Election2012 #vote

— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) November 6, 2012

Even New Yorker Mayor Bloomberg, via @NYCMayor'sOffice, uses in, (or whomever is tweeting there does):

In line to vote! @ P.S. 6 instagr.am/p/RsVUmPzhG0/

— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) November 6, 2012

There are holdouts, though. Some on liners:

Locals harassing voters who brought dogs to wait in cold on line-which wraps around the bean on E.9th. (First such line I've seen-since 99.)

— Peter Feld (@peterfeld) November 6, 2012

Obama worked hard for 4 years for you all he's asking for is one day from you to get on line and vote.

— Bow Wow (@LamborghiniBow) November 6, 2012

Waiting on line.Who cares!! It's a privilege. twitter.com/MsSarahPaulson…

— Sarah Paulson (@MsSarahPaulson) November 6, 2012

Gothamist's John Del Signore writes in a piece titled "How to Wait On Line": "because this comes up every freaking time we mention waiting on line, New Yorkers do in fact wait ON line. Waiting IN line is also acceptable, but don't try to correct us in the comments on this regionalism."

However, in sheer numbers, at least among those who tweet (and that's admittedly only a certain sampling), the ins appear to be winning—that is, until we can all truly vote online, and don't have to wait at all. Surely by that point some of our ways of talking about that activity will change, too. For now, say it however you want. Just vote. 

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Jen Doll