Where there's smoke there's BBQ

At this time of year, supermarkets, restaurants, fast food outlets, pubs and local organisations all try to entice you to buy their summer food or pop along to their outdoor shindig.

Hot weather is excellent for one, seemingly ubiquitous activity: slinging meat on the barbecue and inviting friends over to share the experience.

It’s also a hotbed of bad spelling. Here are the variants of barbecue I’ve seen so far this year:

• BBQ — a bee-bee-kew? Ultimately lazy shorthand
• Bar-B-Q — one character shy of the full word so it’s not much less graft
• BarBQ — Full marks for innovation and saving money on signage
• Bar-B-Cue — longer than the original, so what’s the point?
• Barbeque — a bar-beak? Like Unique and Mozambique?
• Barebecue — presumably a naked orgy over hot coals. Sizzlin’

For the record, the correct spelling is: