The Washington DC metro transports approximately 745,000 riders on an average day. On weekdays, most of these are commuters who are using the time to gear themselves up for another workday or are de-compressing following one. A code of silence is almost always followed during these commutes. Even with a hundred people closely packed in a subway car, if you took away the railway noise, you could hear a pin drop. Talking is grudgingly acceptable during non-rush hour times. Tourists or evening partiers engage in sometimes loud conversation, but the majority of riders, even during these times, follow their ingrained habit of silence.
One afternoon I witnessed a group of girls who managed to have an animated teenage conversation without bothering the other riders or breaking the code. Their facial expressions and gesticulations displayed a sense of passion for the topic, and I admit to doing a little eavesdropping since their presence altered the norm for the ride. Anyone who was not in the immediate vicinity of the girls would not have noticed them because as I mentioned, they did not break the code. The girls were students of Gallaudet University, a college located in Northeast DC which was chartered in 1864 by President Lincoln. Gallaudet, a bilingual school with American Sign Language and English as its official languages, is the only college in the world at where all programs accommodate deaf students. As I eavesdropped, I tried to pick out a few words that the girls signed and figure out what they were talking about, but couldn’t understand a word. I left the train before the girls did that day, but I’m sure they continued their conversation while simultaneously honoring the code.
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