What does "cue (...)" mean?

[SWRtrainfan]

Quite a oddly specific and random question I know, but increasingly I've been seeing this phrase used in these forums and genuinely don't know and can't work out what it means. Here's an example I've just seen:

 

[jon81uk]

Cue is defined as a signal to start doing something. So in your screenshot the cancellation, caused them (and signalled the need) to wait for the third train due to the overcrowding

cue

1. a word or action in a play or film that is used as a signal by a performer…

dictionary.cambridge.org

a signal for someone to do something:
[ + to infinitive ] They started washing up, so that was our cue to leave the party.

 

[SWRtrainfan]

Thank you. So in this example 'cue waiting for the third train at Earlsfield' can be rewritten as 'that signalled the need to wait for the third train as Earlsfield'?

 

[jon81uk]

Thank you. So in this example 'cue waiting for the third train at Earlsfield' can be rewritten as 'that signalled the need to wait for the third train as Earlsfield'?

I would probaly just go for "that meant I needed to wait for the third train".

I think the OP was trying to be a little more melodramatic hence the use of that sort of language.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Sometimes 'cue' is misused/mis-spelt when the correct word needed is perhaps 'queue'.

 

[Magdalia]

This sort of usage has its root in the performing arts, particularly theatre.

A line or word in a play will be the cue for an actor to enter or exit the stage.

 

[Fragezeichnen]

I tend to see it as giving humorous/ironic tone; implying that the following event, while not tragic is unwelcome but nonetheless inevitable. Kind of like the textual equivalent of an eye roll.

 

[Haywain]

Sometimes 'cue' is misused/mis-spelt when the correct word needed is perhaps 'queue'.

But not in the example quoted.