There are some words you simply cannot pronounce correctly, even when you know how they’re supposed to be said. “Segue” is one such word for me. It has a “gue” at the end, so for many years I pronounced it as I would “tongue” or “league” (or “rogue” or “vague” or “harangue”; by these standards “dengue” ought to be a lot easier to pronounce than it is) — “seeg”.
At some point I discovered that it was actually “seg-way”, and I’d been saying it wrong all this time. This ought to have led to a change in my pronunciation of the word, and when I’m paying attention I do remember to say it correctly. But all too often “seeg” slips out and I look silly.
Segue comes from the Italian “seguire”, which means “to follow” and is derived from the same Latin root that gives us “sequel”. This is not particularly useful information, except insofar as it allows you to talk about how something “segues perfectly” into something else.
What is awesome about the word segue is that it gave its name to a mode of transport. The “Segway” Personal Transporter (PT) is a two-wheeled electronic vehicle — the wheels are parallel to each other, you balance on a board between them, and the whole thing balances itself in some strange way (gyroscopes have something to do with it, but I’m not entirely sure what a gyroscope is) and looks absurdly cool. Segways have only been around for about a decade, and it seems unlikely that they’ll ever be a part of everyday street traffic, but they do look like fun to ride. They’re environmentally friendly as well, and have managed to gather quite a cult following.
Why are they called segways?
According to the company this is because the machine allows pedestrians to transform (segue, see?) into “empowered pedestrians”.
The Segway PT has been in the news recently because the British millionaire who had bought the company died a week or so ago — apparently from driving his segway off a cliff.
Far more wonderful than the (admittedly amazing) segway is its low-tech equivalent, the “legway”. The legway is also a two-wheeled vehicle, similar in appearance to the segway, except that it is powered by pedals, so that you do your own legwork.
However much I approve of it, it does look rather alarming; it’s hard to believe the thing will ever stand up straight, let alone transport a person any distance without serious injury being caused.
So from an Italian musical instruction we have derived a word that I cannot for the life of me pronounce. From that word we’ve gotten a name for a cultish electronic vehicle. From that name we’ve derived another name, for the steampunk version of the same vehicle. It’s a surprising route for any word to take, and one is forced to wonder where it will go next. Perhaps the kegway, powered by beer barrels? n
— bluelullaby@gmail.com