# Q **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2006, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684 "2006-07-31T10:00:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684/1 "2006-07-31T10:00:44Z")
Why does the letter “Q” always appear in the English language followed by the letter “U”? ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684/2 "2006-07-31T10:30:35Z")
[Here](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-que.htm) is one view on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684/3 "2006-07-31T10:35:13Z")
Apparently it’s because the alphabets from which the Greek and Roman ones were derived had a separate letter for the ‘kw’ sound; the languages/words retained the sound, but not the letter. [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-que.htm](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-que.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684/4 "2006-07-31T13:13:29Z")
[http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble/pl/page.QwithoutU/dn/home.cfm](http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble/pl/page.QwithoutU/dn/home.cfm) A listing of words that start with “Q” that do not have the letter U. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684/5 "2006-07-31T13:48:04Z")
Sure; there are bigger lists than that, too, but the OP specifically mentions _English_ words; whilst those on the Hasbro list are in the English dictionary, they’re all fairly obvious imports (mostly recent) from middle eastern languages. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684/6 "2006-07-31T14:06:29Z")
Because all the words in the English vocabulary with “Q” in them are followed by “U”. Q.E.D. ---
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684/7 "2006-08-01T02:48:35Z")
I posed the question because I was once asked by someone overseas if Australians spoke English: after all, our national airline is called “QANTAS” and does not have a “QU” combination in the word. (“Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service” being the etymology for those who don’t know.) ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684/8 "2006-08-01T14:54:51Z")
> [@Chez Guevara](#): > > [Here](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-que.htm) is one view on the subject. Interesting, does anyone know if the gutteral k sound as mentioned in that article is the same as the Scottish ch as in loch ? ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684/9 "2006-08-01T16:48:00Z")
I’m sure there is a Scot on this board but as an Englishman I’ll offer my own view. When pronouncing _Qatar_ (stressing the first syllable) I articulate a hard _k_ as in _killer_ (also stressing the first syllable). I pronounce the _ch_ in _loch_ with a marginally softer _k_ sound, as in _Christ_. Try it yourself and you will notice a difference. (I can’t think of another word ending in _ch_ which is pronounced in the same way as _loch_, although there probably is one.) I certainly don’t pronounce the _ch_ in _loch_ as in _which_. I realise I should get out more but I’ve spent the last 10 minutes looking in my dictionary for words beginning with _k_, ending with _k_, or both, or beginning with _ch_ (as in _Christ_) or ending in _ch_ (as in _loch_) and pronouncing them out loud. I have therefore decide that: _I kick ass when I attack and kill a king in a khaki colored kayak in a loch in Qatar at Christmas with a kukri_. Am I kinky? ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q/366684/10 "2006-08-01T21:04:11Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Interesting, does anyone know if the gutteral k sound as mentioned in that article is the same as the Scottish ch as in loch ? Um, no. The sound you describe, /x/ (in the International Phonetic Alphabet) is neither guttural nor all that much like a /k/ sound. The Arabic letter that corresponds is qoph, which is (if memory serves) a pharyngealized velar stop, which basically means it’s like /k/ except you’ll never pronounce it right. /x/, as in the Scots _loch_, is not a stop but a fricative.