"hacen cola"

Question

Hello, I read this pharse "Hacen cola". I understood by the context that it means "queuing"'. But, the word "cola" means just "que"and the verb "hacen"means "to make" so, its like "making a que"?

Welcome to the forum, :) - 00494d19, Apr 25, 2011

What a great selection of answers you got here. How lucky. ;) - jeezzle, Apr 25, 2011

When you write 'que', don't you mean 'queue' ? - pesta, Apr 25, 2011

Queue is the word - pacofinkler, Apr 25, 2011

Answer 1

It's a regional idiom. Not everybody understands the expression in all Spanish speaking countries.

Where it is used in that sense, yes, it may be literally translated as to "make a queue". Interpretations are: to get in line, to form a queue.

Haciendo cola.

In Puerto Rico, this idiom is not understood at all.

I have heard Puerto RIcans (in Puerto Rico) saying "Vete a hacer cola, mi'jo" y "vete a la cola" when they see people trying to get ahead of them in a line at the registro demográfico. - 002067fe, Apr 25, 2011

Nobody seems to understand when I say that here. They expect to hear "hacer fila". - Gekkosan, Apr 26, 2011

Answer 2

I heard this (hacer cola) used a lot in Cuba. Unfortunately, Cubans are all too familar with having to queue/line up for things. I never heard the word "fila"/queue used with the verb hacer. I have heard fila used in Spain. "¡Mira la fila que hay!"/"Look at the queue/line-up!"

Answer 3

"Cola" means literally "tail", originally a sort of attachment. Notice that the English (and Spanish) word "coda" shares the same root, and it means a piece added at the end. Keep attaching one thing after another, and you'll get a glimpse of why "cola" means "queue".

Answer 4

Cola means "tail". So to make a tail is to make a queue.

Hacen cola - They are queuing

Answer 5

Man, what the marketing guys at Pepsi could do with this!

Answer 6

Hacer cola is correct and commonly used. Hacer fila is another way to say the same thing and I have also heard that used.

Answer 7

As you can see from Heidita's answer, in Spain this idiom is not understood at all. Neither is it in Puerto Rico, for example.

I am sorry I gave that impression, it is a very well known expression here in Spain.

What I still don't get is that cola should mean "que"....No idea what he meant by that.

He meant "queue" - someone09, Apr 25, 2011

Ah, ok. Ammended my answer accordingly. - Gekkosan, Apr 25, 2011

Answer 8

Yes, it's like making a queue. Here in America, nobody says that though. We say "in line."

Answer 9

Hacen cola - I would read as they are making / standing in line at first glance unless context indicted queuing.

Edit: to me queuing is what you do to music playlists etc... youtube, things you download, not things in real life, those are lines, but then I'm American so Britain may differ.

Answer 10

Hmmm, cola means que?

cola means queue and tail for example, I am not aware of any sentence it can mean que.

He forgot the other ue on the end of que. - Eddy, Apr 25, 2011