# "Mind the gap" offensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2023, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516 "2023-09-22T02:51:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/41 "2023-09-22T19:25:35Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > See also the airlines’ pre-departure safety demo. Which, by regulation, assumes the passengers have never been on an airplane before. Nor any vehicle with seatbelts. Yeah, at some point i started wondering how many people 1. ride US airplanes 2. understand spoken English 3. have never used a seatbelt I have to think it’s a very small number. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/42 "2023-09-22T19:27:23Z")
> **[Ten Thousand](https://xkcd.com/1053/)** > > Saying 'what kind of an idiot doesn't know about the Yellowstone supervolcano' is so much more boring than telling someone about the Yellowstone supervolcano for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/43 "2023-09-22T19:34:38Z")
I’ve always got a kick out of the phrase, as well as the song _London Underground_ . Which was why when my gf went to London (with a friend from work; they did a week of pubs and cemeteries) she brought me back the hat. [London Underground (lyrics may be NSFW)](https://youtu.be/UHu_cfy33bY?si=REDgztT4t6Gzk-Wb) ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/44 "2023-09-22T19:35:15Z")
I interviewed a guy who used to be a manager at a popular clothing chain found in many malls. He put it down as one of his job duties. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/45 "2023-09-22T19:37:36Z")
Took me a minute. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/46 "2023-09-22T19:54:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It was certainly a real thing during WWII and had evidently fallen into disuse from 1945-ish until it was humorously / irreverently revived in 2015-ish. Actually it was virtually unknown in the UK throughout the 20th century - the signs were printed during the war, but never widely distributed. In about 2000 someone found one and publicized it > **[Keep Calm and Carry On](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On)** > > Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 in preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities. Although 2.45 million copies were printed, and the Blitz did in fact take place, the poster was only rarely publicly displayed and was little known until a copy was rediscovered in 2000 at Barter Books, a bookshop in Alnwi Ev... ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/47 "2023-09-22T20:35:40Z")
“To the pure, all things are pure.” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/48 "2023-09-22T20:52:08Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I interviewed a guy who used to be a manager at a popular clothing chain found in many malls. He put it down as one of his job duties. I know a maverick CFO who was brought to task by his board for reporting the company’s finances in an unconventional manner. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/49 "2023-09-22T20:53:15Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > See also the airlines’ pre-departure safety demo. Which, by regulation, assumes the passengers have never been on an airplane before. Apropos of nothing and completely off-topic, ever since seeing _The In-Laws_ (the hilarious 1979 film with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, not to be confused with several others of the same name) I can no longer hear about airline safety demos without chuckling. At one point in the film, Falk’s character and his lunatic brother-in-law are on a small private jet crewed entirely by Chinese who speak no English. Despite it being a private plane, James Hong, playing a flight attendant, proceeds to do a hilarious safety demo entirely in Mandarin, with gesticulations to aid comprehension. Near the end he demonstrates inflating a life jacket and then, clasping his hands together like a swimmer on a diving board, demonstrates how to dive out of the plane. He then pantomimes a swimming motion. Satisfied with a job well done, he smugly settles down to read a magazine. According to comments in our movie thread, the scene was challenging to film because Falk couldn’t restrain his laughter! 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/50 "2023-09-22T21:06:25Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > It was certainly a real thing during WWII and had evidently fallen into disuse from 1945-ish until it was humorously / irreverently revived in 2015-ish. > > Actually it was virtually unknown in the UK throughout the 20th century - the signs were printed during the war, but never widely distributed. In about 2000 someone found one and publicized it > [Keep Calm and Carry On - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On) Interesting; I am sure my parents (both of whom were born after the war) told me about the phrase well before 2000. Although they (and consequently I) have/had a talent for retaining fairly useless facts. So when it started popping up on postcards/t shirts etc (we’d probably call it a meme online now?), I knew exactly where it came from. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/51 "2023-09-22T22:05:33Z")
Sometimes there’s a teenager taking their first unaccompanied plane ride. I was seatmates with one once. Nice kid. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/52 "2023-09-22T22:17:06Z")
Who has never used a seatbelt?! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/53 "2023-09-22T22:19:42Z")
In fairness, aircraft seatbelts typically have a different unlatching mechanism than the ones you usually find in cars. That’s probably the only point to the seatbelt part of the demo. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/54 "2023-09-22T22:35:43Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’ve always got a kick out of the phrase, as well as the song _London Underground_ . Which was why when my gf went to London (with a friend from work; they did a week of pubs and cemeteries) she brought me back the hat. I can’t remember when I first heard the phrase, but it was fairly recently. It made me think of a line in _The Silence of the Lambs_, both the movie and the book. Right before Lector escapes, the he tells the guard bringing his dinner to “mind the drawings”. I.e., don’t disturb Lector’s drawings on the table. Which forced the guard to put the dinner on the floor to move the drawings, and then reach down to pick up the dinner. Which enabled Lector to handcuff the guard to the cell and escape. _“Ready when you are Sgt. Pembry”._ ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/55 "2023-09-22T22:46:16Z")
He’s probably used a seatbelt. But I could see someone, even a repeat traveler, going “What do I need this for!? Are we going to crash into a cloud!?” Emphasizing that seatbelts should remain fastened throughout the flight isn’t the worst policy. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/56 "2023-09-23T00:01:31Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > But I could see someone, even a repeat traveler, going “What do I need this for!? Are we going to crash into a cloud!?” Emphasizing that seatbelts should remain fastened throughout the flight isn’t the worst policy. But I might need to get out my seat quickly if there’s a snake. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/57 "2023-09-23T00:07:12Z")
They’re like the ones in old cars. I remember those kind of seat belts in cars in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/58 "2023-09-23T00:08:54Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > > [@Voyager](#): > > > > “When correctly viewed, anything is lewd.” - Tom Lehrer. > > [I have _urges_ in my _areas_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qmUJpcPAaM) Ahahahahah! I came in to post that very thing. I find that skit hilarious. My wife does not. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/59 "2023-09-23T03:42:16Z")
Back to the OP - never mind “mind the gap”, WTF is a tannoy? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516/60 "2023-09-23T03:45:14Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > WTF is a tannoy A public address loudspeaker. The (UK) brand became a generic term. ETA: apparently the company still exists, making (home/studio) speakers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mind-the-gap-offensive/990516.md?page=4)