Gothamist: Man Hit By Subway Survives

Frank the Crank

Sat, 06 Mar 2004 15:31:20 -0500

New Yorkers call the subway "the train." This is why the subway lines are called "A-Train," "L-Train," "F-Train," rather than "A-Subway," "L-Subway," "F-Subway." "I'm taking the train home tonight," is a much more common phrase from NYers than "I'm taking the subway home tonight." (Both phrases are correct; it's just that "the train" is used more often by NYers) "The train" is not normally used by itself to refer to Metro North, LIRR, Amtrak, due to confusing it with our train (the subway). When those other trains are mentioned, their proper names are normally specified to differentiate from our train (the subway). "I'm taking the Metro North home tonight" as opposed to "I'm taking the train home tonight"; the second phrase will have most NYers assuming that you're taking the subway home.

hy

Fri, 05 Mar 2004 12:24:32 -0500

One caveat: You'd never say "the 5 subway" when referring to either a specific subway train running on the 5-line, or the 5-line in general. Instead, you should use "train" here instead of "subway"--as in "5-train" or "F-train." Also it seems that some subway conductors have started using the phonetic alphabet to describe lettered or numbered trains (i.e. "Echo Train" meaning "E-train") for added clarity when announcing transfers. However, your friends may ridicule you if you refer to subway trains in this manner during the course of common conversation.

hy

Fri, 05 Mar 2004 12:08:29 -0500

"The subway" can refer to either the entire MTA New York City Transit Subway System (but not including the Staten Island Railway) or an single subway train created by joining together a matching set of subway cars that run on a specific subway line. Using the term "train" in NYC (when referring to the "subway") could be misconstrued as referring to the MetroNorth, Long Island Railroad (LIRR), or Amtrak.

metro

Fri, 05 Mar 2004 11:44:48 -0500

do you mean train? or is it acceptable useage to call subway trains just "subways".

metro

Fri, 05 Mar 2004 11:43:49 -0500

do you mean subway train? or is it accept to just call subway trains, "subway"?