Don't call it a Tube line (but you totally can)

Now we just need a video where Charles Yerkes' lower jaw moves in Monty Python style with your voice-over

"You are the small rolling stock to my narrow tunnel" Wow Jago, take us out to dinner first 😂

"Down in the subsurface, cut-and-cover underground station at midnight". One of The Jam's lesser known singles.

The Elizabeth Line is deep and round. Lets call that the tube and giggle at the pedants....

I became confused when Smarties no longer came in tubes.I think they come in hexagons now but are still refered to as tubes of Smarties. I enjoy eating them on sub -surface trains.

When a tube of toothpaste becomes flat, it's still a tube of toothpaste!!!!

Im going to start calling the elizabeth line a tube line to annoy the anoraks.

Tubular as surfer slang actually does come from a literal place. It refers to a wave cresting over itself, becoming a literal tube. If you were able to surf the tube you were a badass, and hence the word tubular came to have the same definition. Also, the word "the subway" has come to have a similar usage to "the tube" in New York. Not all subway lines are underground, but people collectively refer to the system as a whole by that name.

Very true commentary on pedantry in general really!

The transit system of London (The Tube) is not the only one that uses a generic name to descibe the whole system. For example in Chicargo the transit system is known as 'The L' as most of its lines are elevated and there are sections which are underground and also run at surface level. Then there's the New York transit which goes by the term 'The Subway' the majority of which is underground but again there are surface running sections as well as elevated sections.... So I'm with you Jago The Tube is a simple pleasing quick referece for the network which makes it easy to identify, especialy for people like me who might come from out of town by a lot of mileage.......

Never really thought about it before. But as with all your work you have woken me to a whole new area of pedantry that I can wallow in. Hurrah for Yerkes.

Glasgow has even smaller rolling stock running through narrower tunnels, but it's not called the straw.

My hazy recollection is that the old LPTB/LT used to call the whole shebang 'Underground', whereas TfL went for 'Tube', though the latter name was creeping into official parlance and signage earlier. The Central's 'Twopenny Tube' slogan probably did most to make it a popular colloquialism in Edwardian times. In Britain 'subway' seems reserved for Glasgow's wee circle line and 'metro' for freesheets.

So you can only say that a sub-surface underground train full of highly intelligent people is a tube of smarties!

Mumbles: we are the rolling stock to..your...narrow...tunnel. stares blankly ahead

Hi Jago from Spain. I have NEVER called any of it "The Tube." It has always been "The Underground" as far as I am concerned.

I really thought you had made this video in response to the tube strike this week - but Elizabeth line was still running. Genuinely, it caused confusion for some foreign friends we were meeting on Thursday who thought they wouldn't be able to get from Paddington (where they were staying) to Shoreditch (where we were). Elizabeth line is a tube line in their eyes, and they didn't even think to check tfl to see if it was unaffected.

The popular pastime of visiting every London Underground station in a single day - like I tried to do on 17th October - is called The Tube Challenge. Just like the NY Subway is still called a Subway despite the fact that part of the network is elevated

As someone who worked for LU for n15 years, front line staff never referred to the system as a tube. We called it either the underground or the company. Funnily enough thanks to Charles Yerkes, we called the place where passngers sit as cars rather than carriages.

I honestly always (ALWAYS) mutter "HIM AGAIN" in my mind when I see Yerkes. Also, thanks for this video, very informative!