If you have ever been to London, I bet you know what I’m talking about!
But for all of those who haven’t been and are getting ready to go soon, here’s something you should know: you’re going to hear this phrase a lot when you travel in London’s tube stations. And what does it mean?
“Mind the gap” is an audible or visual warning phrase meaning to tell passengers to be cautious while crossing the spatial gap between the train and the station platform. Some tube station’s spaces are bigger than others, so “mind the gap, between the train and the platform”
History
Some of the platforms on the London Underground are curved and the rolling stock that uses them is straight, so an unsafe gap is created when a train stops at a curved platform. In the past, because of the absence of a device to fill these gaps, visual and auditory warnings were needed, and are still needed today. Otherwise passengers could be at the risk of being caught unaware and sustaining injury by stepping into the gap.
This is why the phrase “Mind the gap” was chosen for this purpose and can be found painted along the edges of curved platforms, as well as heard on recorded announcements played when a train arrives at many Underground stations.
This phrase was introduced in 1968 for the first time on the London Underground, in the United Kingdom. And today it is still with us, so tourists associate this phrase with the UK because of the particularly British word choice, and the number of times you hear it in London.