What we Talk About When We Talk About The Tube by John Lanchester

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This is an engaging exploration of what “The Tube” means – John Lanchester shares how his own understanding of what the word referred to changed over time – that “The Tube” can be a subset of the Underground (ie the deep lines rather than the cut-and-cover ones).

He also shows how access to the understanding of particular language or idioms is part of cultural identity and belonging – to “misused” the phrase “The Tube” a sign that you are not really a Londoner?

That this is the District Line volume in the Penguin set for the Underground 150^th Anniversary when it is one of the lines that is not “The Tube” in a strict application of the phrase is somehow comforting.