Let me straighten some of you Yankees like Joe Biden out. Barbecue/Bar-B-Que/BBQ is a pork butt or brisket cooked at low temp for a long time (low & slow) using wood that produces lots of smoke like oak, hickory, apple wood, cheery wood, etc. and the smoke imparts it's own flavor into the meat. A cookout is when you fire up the grill and throw on some burgers & hot dogs or steaks. It is not "having a barbecue", whatever the fuck that means. These terms are not interchangeable.