An interesting international discussion cropped up around my shop Word Mystery post regarding what exactly a bodega is. For me, it falls into the category of words (I should come up with a name for them) that mean totally different things or are completely unconnected in my mind depending on what accent they’re pronounced in. Reading it in an English context, I immediately think of New York City corner stores. In a Spanish voice, I go to wine cellars or pantry-type rooms.
GIF by Nathan Pyle
By a weird coincidence, The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC did a segment about bodega cats that I heard right around the time this conversation was happening. It’s more cute than informative but if you’ve been to an NYC bodega, you’ve met one of these cats.
If you’re not familiar with the concept, these are cats who live in convenience stores. Many NYC bodegas have them (the one near where my sister lives likes to sit on my nephew’s head) and they are, in fact, illegal. During the course of the conversation, it’s revealed that the fines for having a cat in a food shop are essentially equivalent to the ones for having rodents so it’s a wash.
If you have a few moments, you should scroll through the listener-submitted photos of their favorite bodega cats — it’s such a funny and weird collection and I somehow love the hashtag #bodegacat more than anything else right now.
Other amusing things for the day
Today’s GIF was part of a promotional campaign that Nathan Pyle did for his book about how to be in NYC. He has also designed some of my favorite things online, like another Schrodinger’s cat joke and a clever ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT joke. If you need a laugh, you should look through his stuff. Bonus: so many PRINCESS BRIDE jokes.
Le cul entre les deux chaises 
July 30, 2014 at 3:49 am
Those cats are invaluable–the one winter we didn’t have a cat in the bodega directly beneath us, we were plagued by mice all of the freaking time. It was THE WORST. I could tell you tales of how some were dispatched…but I don’t want to prevent you from eating ever again.
July 30, 2014 at 8:15 pm
I honestly think that if there is no cat, do not buy anything.
Saw my first Parisian mouse and thought of how many I saw all the time in the US. This one was a little field mouse on the steps of the Metro. I think he’d hitched a ride and was lost.