Tube? (was: Re: Subway!)

[Jerome Foster]

Speaking as an ex-New Yorker,  I believe there is a system in NY known to
locals as The Tubes. It refers to a separate system that runs from somewhere
in lower Manhattan, under the Hudson River to Newark or Jersey City. It is
referred to as the Hudson Tubes.

J Foster
----- Original Message -----
From: "Aaron E. Drews" <aaron at LING.ED.AC.UK>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 11:59 AM
Subject: Re: Tube? (was: Re: Subway!)


> on 9/6/00 5:43 PM, Lynne Murphy wrote:
>
> > Peter asked:
> >> Have Londoners taken to calling the Underground "the tube"
> >> indiscriminately?  I had it explained to me by a Londoner back in the
60s
> >> that "tube" referred only to the routes created by underground drilling
at
> >> greater depths, like the Picadilly and Bakerloo Lines, and would not be
> >> used of routes like the Circle Line, which were near enough to the
surface
> >> to be created by the "break and cover" method.  I think I even read the
> >> same thing in some guide book.  I've taken it as gospel ever since, but
> >> maybe it was always more technical than colloquial.
> >
> > I haven't heard anyone make the distinction, but then I don't live in
London,
> > so maybe people up there are pickier.  When I've asked "can I get there
by
> > tube?", no one's corrected me and I'm typically going on the Circle and
> > District lines.  The guide for visitors at londontown.com says:
> >
>
> I don't know about in London, but here in Edinburgh (where there are a lot
> of Londoners, admittedly), "the tube" refers to the London Underground.
The
> whole system.  But, I sense a drift of "tube" meaning *any* (partially)
> subterranean rail system.  So, I don't think locals would bat an eyelid if
> someone were to mention the tube in Glasgow. In fact, my in-laws have
> mentioned taking the tube in New York.
>
> Does "tube" have a [j] (or [y], depending on convention) in any American
> dialects?  Here, it's pronounced like "chewb", which causes me a slight
> giggle every so often, despite years of "scientifically studying" this
> stuff.
>
> --Aaron
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Aaron E. Drews                               The University of Edinburgh
> http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~aaron      Departments of English Language and
> aaron at ling.ed.ac.uk                    Theoretical & Applied Linguistics
>
>  "MERE ACCUMULATION OF OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE IS NOT PROOF"
>   --Death
>