Would 'sitting in a queue' be incorrect English?

Usually, to avoid any ambiguities, I'd say 'waiting in the queue', however I came across 'sitting in a queue' and wanted to know whether it's correct or incorrect English.

Is it used? And if yes, in what context/s?

Thanks

Solution 1:

I'm from the UK and "Sitting in a queue" is a perfectly normal thing to say.

Sometimes the word "sitting" can be used to mean "staying in one place" (like you might sit an object on a table). In this sense, people might say that they were "sitting in the queue for hours", even if they spent the entire time standing up: "sitting" in this usage means that the queue was moving so slow that they spent extended periods of time not moving at all. Also, of course, they might mean that they were actually sitting down: this might refer to the type of queueing system where you take a ticket and sit down and wait for your ticket's number to be called.

The phrase "sitting in a queue" is also often used to describe inanimate objects, or even virtual objects, such as emails, helpdesk tickets etc. For example:

"Did you deal with that purchase order problem yet?" "No, it's been sitting in my queue since tuesday"

Solution 2:

It is perfectly correct English. I do it every morning on the way to work.

The phrase is often used for circumstances such a a queue of traffic. You are sitting in your car in a queue.