Londongirl

Anyone know how this originated on the Tube?

Mel

Just guessing, but I always assumed it was because there is an actual gap between the train and the platform which you could step into and twist your foot if you don't watch entering and exiting the train car.

The

Mind the gap has to do with not leaving a space on the escalators as you go up or down into the tube station. I think....

cd

Mel<BR>I always thought the same as you, as in, "be careful of the gap as you exit or enter the subway car". Is that said just in Picadilly or all over London?

Lester

Here's an article on the Gap<BR><BR>http://www.scottnicholson.com/travel/london/tube.html

julie

When ever a train is pulling in to a station, just as the doors open, the conductor (I think it is a recording in most cases ) says something like "Earls Court, Kew Garden, Kensington (wherevera the train is going on to) and "mind the gap'! Just what it says as there is often a huge gap and uneven step between car and walkway. I imagine you could get you foot caught if you were careless. So you can buy shirts that say "mind the gap" and were them about... no one knows what exactly it means.

xx

Has absolutely nothing to do with escalators!

xxx

No, no, you people are so silly. It was an expression started by Banana Republic against their competition. Mind the Gap!

Gareth

Alot of stations on the underground are curved. Train carages are not. So when the doors open there is a large gap between the train and the station platform. Simple.

savvy subway surfer

I've ridden on metros/subways in the US and other countries --- their trains often have a "gap" between the platform and train, yet the Brits are the only ones who so very politely reMIND you to be careful. I don't a clue how or when this started. Maybe too many tourists who'd never encountered the underground? Or perhaps rowdy Brits that had a few too many pints at the pub?<BR><BR>

Nutella

I have a photo where we're posing under a low archway somewhere in London - a sign is posted "Mind your head." : )

Ryn

Good grief! You folks have got to be joking about needing a translation of this phrase. Trains and busses all over the US have placards that read, "Watch your step!" I'm sure UK residents find that phrasing quaint as well, but it is not obscure.<BR><BR>Americans say "watch" when they instruct another to be careful, in Britspeak, the verb is "mind."

Kel

The phrase to "mind _____" to Brits and Irish means to pay attention to something (as in our "mind your manners"). So it's not that big a stretch to understand that this is shorthand for "Watch out--there might be a space (gap) between the train car and the platform, and you could hurt yourself somehow." I imagine it's taken on legendary status as it is repeated at EVERY stop and tourists likely find it amusing.<BR>p.s.--xxx, Banana Republic and The Gap are owned by the same company. They're not competitors.

suzanne

I saw someone who didn't "mind the gap"...she wound up under the train (no joking).

doug

Once told a british lady I know to "Mind the Gap" when she was climbing out of a minivan. Cracked her up. Guess you had to be there.<BR>Best sign on a low beam in a pub is "Duck or Grouse"

PatrickW

As a born Londoner I've grown up with the phrase. The last poster is right, some people are caught unawares: a few years ago, someone slipped and fell between coaches (so now there is a sort of screen slung between the coaches), and a couple of weeks ago a tourist died apparently while horsing around near the edge of the platform. <BR><BR>On a less serious but more pedantic note, we also say 'Watch your step' this side of the pond, but tend (I think) to use it in a more metaphorical sense, about being careful against upsetting or annoying someone else. On which note I will shut up.

Pierrette

Two years ago on my way to Heathrow I didn't mind the gap and lost my shoe!

Byrd

One of our friends didn't "mind the gap" in the Paris Metro-- her leg just went between the train and platform! Thanks to fast-thinking and-acting Parisian men, she was quickly pulled up to her feet, with only her pride injured. You will not hear any of our little group complaining about "rude" Parisians!<BR>And no matter which country we're in, we always remind each other to mind the gap in the train stations.<BR>

Shannon

I'm pretty sure I have the answer to this one. Back in about 1983, on the Central line, the platform curves as you get to Bank Station, leaving a gap between the train and the station platform. Some got caught between the two and was seriously injured. As a result, about 6 months later (if I remember correctly, it was in early 1984, around the time they banned smoking except in two carriages)(later banned completely), they had a recorded message at Bank station, each time the train came into the station that repeated "Mind the Gap!" several times as the doors were open.<BR><BR>I remember this very clearly, because I took the Central line every weekday to and from work, getting off at St. Paul's, and it would invariably remind me to close my book and get ready to get off the train.<BR><BR>The phrase soon became popular, and by 1987, the merchandisers were going full steam with Mind the Gap -- everything!