She listens to opera on the tube.

[Skrej]

You used to hear television sets referred to as 'boob tubes', but I haven't heard that in ages.

The term was a reference to the vacuum tubes originally used in television sets, while 'boob' is (somewhat dated) slang for a foolish person.

The idea being that either only foolish people watched it, the programming itself was foolish, or watching it induced foolishness. The latter two certainly seem to apply to most of today's programming I've seen, although I don't actually own a television.

Of course today, anybody hearing the term would probably assume it was a reference to nudity in programming.

 

[emsr2d2]

I've never heard that phrase used for anything other than an item of clothing (which really is, or at least was, called a "boob tube"!) The TV has certainly been referred to as "the tube" (or "toob") in my lifetime but I haven't heard it for years.

 

[GoesStation]

Another BrE/AmE divide. On our side of the pond a boob tube is a hypnotic electronic device. On your side it's an article of clothing which sometimes has hypnotic effects of its own.