Kansas City Blog

DLC of the always entertaining KC Lunch Spots recently held a poll asking readers to vote for their favored spelling of the word barbecue...or is that barbeque or bbq?

Just as there's not one dominant version of barbecue, there's not one dominant version of its correct spelling. As DLC notes, no less of an authority than the Oxford English Dictionary lists four different spellings and as shown above, Lay's Potato Chips have used at least threespellings in the past few years. Even though Kansas Citians can agree on a general style of sauce, we can't agree on spelling.

For example:

BBQ: Arthur Bryants
Bar-B-Q: Gates, LC's, Zarda's
Bar-B-Que: Hayward's, Smokehouse
B-B-Q: Wyandot
Barbeque: Winslow's, Famous Dave's
Barbecue: KC Masterpiece, Oklahoma Joe's, Fiorella's Jack Stack 

Thirty-eight percent of DLC's 125 voters went for "barbeque," a spelling embraced only by Winslow's and Famous Dave's (which isn't even based here). Famous Dave's comes from Minnesota, a state known more for fried cheese curds.

 As astute readers of this blog will note, we prefer "barbecue." It's widely viewed as the correct form amongst the learned folk.

The OED might not take a stand on the correct spelling, but the bible of journalism, the AP Stylebook, is not afraid to put its foot down. It's entry reads: "barbecue: Not barbeque or Bar-B-Q." The equally influential and even more academic Chicago Manual of Style agrees. To add that extra oomph of authority, same goes for spell-check in Microsoft Word. -- Owen Morris