Mind the Gap: A Journey into Language

I place two coffee cups on the counter, as if each is a fragile antique I had picked up at Portobello market. The mugs feature a map of the London Underground and the ubiquitous subway warning, Mind the Gap. “I’ve been looking for these all over London,” I tell the clerk in Heathrow’s duty-free shop. He looks squarely at my smiling face and asks, “Why? He does not seem to understand the fascination tourists have with this particular souvenir. He probably shares the view of The Urban Dictionary— Mind the Gap is “repeated by stupid, annoying, American tourists who find the phrase fascinating and funny.”

I begin to explain my fascination, unaware of the queue of international customers behind me. “Well, Mind the Gap is an expression we don’t use in the United States . . . And it really means more than it says. You see. . . ” The clerk hands me my credit card and the hastily wrapped parcel. “Cheers!” he says, the Brit expression signaling the close of social and economic transactions.

Language differences entertain me. In Wales, I had flummoxed the ladies in an eyeglass shop when I asked to purchase a pair of cheaters. As George Bernard Shaw observed, “England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” Quite right. In the United Kingdom, one may enjoy faggots for breakfast, bangers and mash at the pub, and bubble-and-squeak for several…