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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Mind a gap

• Thread starter Thread starter Quintessenza
• Start date Start date Feb 11, 2017

Quintessenza

Member

Salerno, Italy Italian Hi everyone! I would like to ask for your help in order to understand if "mind a gap" is a correct or wrong expression. I know that "mind the gap" is worldwide understood as a warning, but I was wondering if using it the other way can be a pun or if it is a complete mistake. Just to give more context, I'm considering the use of "mind a gap" instead of "mind the gap" as the name of a cultural association aiming to fill both the gender and the technological gaps of the local community through different activities. And so, am I completely wrong? Thanks a lot!

Keith Bradford

Senior Member

Brittany, NW France English (Midlands UK) I've never heard the expression mind a gap. Mind the gap meant originally, and still means, "Take care that you don't put your foot in the gap between the railway carriage and the platform!" I wasn't aware that it had any wider meaning.

Copyright

Member Emeritus

Penang American English I would avoid "mind a gap" because people will think it odd. You'll spend your life explaining the meaning.

Enquiring Mind

Senior Member

UK/Česká republika English - the King's Hello Quin, it seems to me that "a" doesn't fit here, because the speaker believes/thinks/assumes/knows - "aiming to fill both the gender and the technological gaps" - and assumes his listener/reader also knows (or can be expected to know) that this gap does, indeed, exist. In the "assumed context" in which it's used, this gap is not, therefore, something indefinite, it's something definite. So there is a clash of grammatical logic between the use of the indefinite article ("a") and the (assumed to be definite) noun it modifies ("the gap").

natkretep

Moderato con anima (English Only)

Singapore English (Singapore/UK), basic Chinese Consider using 'fill a/the gap (void/vacuum)', another fixed expression.

velisarius

Senior Member

Greece British English (Sussex)

Quintessenza said: I know that "mind the gap" is worldwide understood as a warning, Click to expand...

I'm not sure that it is. Like Keith Bradford, I associate it with a recorded-voice message that you can hear on certain platforms of the London underground. (I always wonder why they can't do something about that gap after all these years.) If you want to play with that particular message, and if you think your target audience is familiar with "Mind the gap", you might use the plural: "Mind/minding the gaps".

Quintessenza

Member

Salerno, Italy Italian

Keith Bradford said: I've never heard the expression mind a gap. Mind the gap meant originally, and still means, "Take care that you don't put your foot in the gap between the railway carriage and the platform!" I wasn't aware that it had any wider meaning. Click to expand...

velisarius said: I'm not sure that it is. Like Keith Bradford, I associate it with a recorded-voice message that you can hear on certain platforms of the London underground. (I always wonder why they can't do something about that gap after all these years.) If you want to play with that particular message, and if you think your target audience is familiar with "Mind the gap", you might use the plural: "Mind/minding the gaps". Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your advices, Keith and Velisarius! That's the reason why I'd better ask for your help before going on. And so, do you believe that "Mind the gaps" sounds good? Or maybe better if I use Nakretep's suggestion: "fill the gap(s)"?

natkretep said: Consider using 'fill a/the gap (void/vacuum)', another fixed expression. Click to expand...

Copyright said: I would avoid "mind a gap" because people will think it odd. You'll spend your life explaining the meaning. Click to expand...

Why didn't I consider that? Thanks for the hint!

Enquiring Mind said: Hello Quin, it seems to me that "a" doesn't fit here, because the speaker believes/thinks/assumes/knows - "aiming to fill both the gender and the technological gaps" - and assumes his listener/reader also knows (or can be expected to know) that this gap does, indeed, exist. In the "assumed context" in which it's used, this gap is not, therefore, something indefinite, it's something definite. So there is a clash of grammatical logic between the use of the indefinite article ("a") and the (assumed to be definite) noun it modifies ("the gap"). Click to expand...

Very good point. Thanks for the underline.

wandle

Senior Member

London English - British When I hear 'Mind the gap' I mentally add 'between your left ear and your right ear'. P

pob14

Senior Member

Central Illinois American English

Quintessenza said: I know that "mind the gap" is worldwide understood as a warning Click to expand...

I didn't know what it meant until Keith explained it. We don't generally use "mind" this way in the US.

wandle

Senior Member

London English - British

pob14 said: I didn't know what it meant until Keith explained it. We don't generally use "mind" this way in the US. Click to expand...

Don't you say 'Mind you' at all? P

pob14

Senior Member

Central Illinois American English

wandle said: Don't you say 'Mind you' at all? Click to expand...

I've heard it, rarely, but never said it. I would guess it's less common now than in the past. "Mind your manners" might be the most common surviving phrase.

GreenWhiteBlue

Banned

The City of New York USA - English You also might mind children (that is, look after them.) On public transportation in New York City (and I expect elsewhere in the US where one might find rapid transit or commuter trains) the phrase that is used -- or indeed, that is painted on the platform where the doors will be when the train comes to a stop -- is watch the gap. While more idiomatic in US English than "mind", I think it is a little silly to tell people to watch the gap, as if the gap itself were suddenly going to do something interesting. Last edited: Feb 13, 2017

Copyright

Member Emeritus

Penang American English I agree about "watch" rather than "mind" in AE ... but "Watch the gap" sounds fine to me. Random House: watch: v. 4. to be careful or cautious:[no object; (~ + out)]Watch (out) when you cross the street. Watch your language. Watch your purse. Watch the gap.

sdgraham

Senior Member

Oregon, USA USA English

Quintessenza said: Hi everyone!I know that "mind the gap" is worldwide understood as a warning, Click to expand...

Wrong. Sorry We do not use the expression in the U.S.

Quintessenza

Member

Salerno, Italy Italian

sdgraham said: Wrong. Sorry We do not use the expression in the U.S. Click to expand...

Oh, that's something I wasn't aware of. Thank you for explaining it to me. I simply believed that the warning used in the Tube was at least well known everywhere.

wandle

Senior Member

London English - British 'Mind' in this context means 'pay attention to'. It does surprise me to find American contributors disavowing it. WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2017, as a verb, meaning 12: to be cautious (about); take (something) into account: [~ + object]"Mind the step,'' he warned. [~ + clause]Mind what you say. [no object]Mind now, I want you home by twelve. [~ + you]Mind you, I still have a right to my opinion. I feel sure I have heard characters in Western films saying things like, 'That's just his way, ma'am, don't you pay him no mind'.

wandle

Senior Member

London English - British

velisarius said: I always wonder why they can't do something about that gap after all these years. Click to expand...

There is a gap because platforms are curved and train carriages are straight. Platforms are curved no doubt for reasons of space and fit. Neither straightening the platforms nor making the carriages flexible is a practical, or at least economic, proposition. Sorry if this is a bit of a trainspotter's (or platformspotter's) answer. Last edited: Feb 14, 2017 You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Bluesky LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link

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