Friday, March 20, 2009

Things They Should Study: are subway mice universally cute?

I think the little black mousies that live in the subway tracks are cute. So does everyone else I've ever discussed subway mice with.

Which is really weird if you think about it. They're mice. They live in the subway tracks. Technically they're an infestation, and they're probably covered in unspeakable filth. I've been living here for nearly nine years(!), someone should have expressed revulsion about subway mice in my presence before. But no one has, everyone thinks they're cute. I'd say a good half the time I see a mousie on the tracks, some random person on the platform goes "Oooh, look, mice!" (in an OMG CUTE! voice) or goes for a closer look or is otherwise watching them with pleasant interest. I've never seen anyone squick, although surely some people somewhere must.

It would be interesting to do a comprehensive survey and see what percentage of the population thinks the subway mice are cute, and how that compares with the population's feelings about mice in general.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE subway mice. I do not love NYC subway rats. Double standard? Perhaps. Once, I saw a little baby mouse perched on one of those yellow bumps on the warning track at the edge of the platform. It was that tiny it could fit in one dot. Years later, the memory still makes me happy.

impudent strumpet said...

I don't actually know the difference between mice and rats, but rats sound pointer and more evil. (Although I've met pet rats and I have no objection to them.) The mousies are teeny and round and fluffy and nibble on bits of food held between their paws, so they make me smile.

Maybe that should be a tourism hook. "Come to Toronto, our infestations are adorable."

laura k said...

NYC subway rats are HUGE, scary and universally loathed - and feared. They are absolutely disgusting.

Toronto subway mice are adorable.