I’ll admit that the difference between these two terms didn’t hit me until just a few years ago, but this is most likely because it’s the kind of vernacular that you don’t hear every day. It also doesn’t help that “segue” is the kind of word that almost always spoken and almost never written.
When you are thinking about the two-wheeled scooter that is designed to move people around urban environments, that is the trademarked product known as the Segway. This is the product that started its life as Project Ginger and it was further popularized by movies like Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
You might even remember when I crashed a Segway almost four years ago. I can laugh about it, but it was clearly an embarrassing moment at the time.
Then, what is a segue? Pronounced exactly the same way as Segway, a segue refers to the transition that you’d make from one segment to another. For instance, a TV news anchor may use a segue go from talking about the weather to talking about politics: “Speaking of powerful winds of change, we now turn our attention to the race among the Republicans.”
The term “segue” is also used in the context of music, movies, and other forms of entertainment. The producer or director works out a way to move from one scene or song to another without an obvious interruption. You get this quite often with medleys at live concerts.
Just as queue and cue are pronounced the same way but have entirely different meanings, Segway and segue can be just as easily confused. Are there any other word pairs or grammatical rules that confuse you? Suggest the topic through the comment form below and I’ll add it to the queue for a future Grammar 101 post. How’s that for a segue?
Hey Michael,
I can honestly say that I don’t remember ever encountering the word segue in practice, spoken or in print except in a dictionary.
In a pocket reference Canadian English Dictionary it is defined as: to proceed from one section or piece of music to another without break.
I would like you to write also about the way people mispronounce words. For example February is sometimes being pronounced even on TV as Febuary. Also the usage of words that are plainly nonsensical but quite ofte used like irregardless instead of regardless.
Or supposably: http://youtu.be/5z0Gitlj9bM
That’s really funny. And some people in the comments of the video are even asking what’s the difference.
Oooh, how people mispronounce words is definitely interesting to me, too. Libe-airy (library) is one that bothers me.
I’ve played in the pit orchestra of a few musicals, and I can confirm that the word segue is used commonly in exactly the way you mention. Going between one piece and another without a break. Often from a main song to “transition music” as the backstage crew sets up the next scene. In this context, it is written down at the end of the piece. Considering that this is probably one of its most common uses, it’s probably unfair to say that segue is “almost never written”.
I’ve also heard the word used in a few podcasts I listen to, but I agree it’s not a word you hear very often.
I find the most interesting about most of the grammar posts that you do Michael is the amount of words that are pronounced so similar or the same with so many different meanings.
Segue is not a new term to me, but every time I hear the word today I think of the scooter, and the owner of Segway that died falling off his over a cliff.
you have got to be kidding me, did the inventor really die from his own invention? that is seriously ironic.
Yep, that is real. It is quite ironic, but quite illogical to rude it next to a cliff.
How about that, I never knew that what the TV anchors used was ‘segue’. Since it sounded like ‘segway’, I thought it was just a case of the same word having different meanings. Maybe the ‘gue’ part of segue ought to be pronounced as ‘hue’ to avoid confusion.
-Jean
Well it’s actually an Italian word….kind of like ‘guido’ is pronounced ‘gwaydo’.
I never knew the existence of this word ‘segue’ until now.
I learnt a new word in this edition of Grammar 101.
Thanks!
But segue isn’t pronounced segway!It’s pronounced “seeg”. That’s where the error comes in.
Perhaps some people in some areas pronounce it that way, but it certainly is not the most generally accepted pronunciation. /?s??we?/ is the common pronunciation. /?/ is “e as in bed”.
Oh, well that sucks. Looks like the comment system here won’t accept the unicode IPA characters. Anyway, you can see them at the Wiktionary entry for “segue”. Main point still works though, the first “e” in segue is the same as the “e” in bed.
Ah, it’s an old thread, but I wanted to throw in my lot anyway.
No, it’s not pronounced “seeg” as S Burns intends to.
The origin of the word is Italian, where seguire (infinitive of the verb) means to follow. “segue” is the third person singular. Italians pronounce each vocal individually! They don’t contract, and it is not French where “-gue” becomes “-ig” phonetically.
The italian pronounciation is combined:
se (like the e in settle) gu (like in goo) and e (again like the e in settle) se-goo-e. The emphasis is on the first syllable.
Now, if you pronounce “se-goo-e” (aka segue) faster, you eventually end up with segway 😀
Gotta love languages 🙂