Approaching on the subway?

On, otherwise she might think you are following her. Your instinct might be to approach her while she is out of the train, there are less people around in case you are punted and such but remember that it works both ways. With people around the defenses are just slightly lowered and you ahve better chances.

In addition, while on the train she is not going anywhere that you aren't. All that changes once off.

I strongly recommend that you do not try the following.

Letting her catch a glimpse of your gun to impress her.
Pretending that the train is full to crowd her.
Approach while peeling an apple with a large knife.
use the line, "So do you like... stuff."

You should also resist the urge to show it to her. That's worse than the gun or knife.

I agree with Craven.

So are you looking to score or do you actually really like a person you see on the subway?

The subway can be frightening. Are you assuming that you can just approach women routinely on the subway and not frighten them?
Aggression on the subway is usually particularly unwelcome, people generally kind of cocoon themselves in a subway situation.

I agree with ossobuco- There is a certain perception of danger on the subway that many women feel.

Unless this is a particular woman that you want to meet, that you see every day on the train, I would say that you should look elsewhere. If there is a special one, simply start a casual conversation (Boy is the train crowded, today!) and see her reaction.

Just make sure it is, indeed, crowded if you use that line.

Do you have a particular woman in mind, Blackie? Is it someone you see regularly?

Is it the Toronto subway yer talking about? The dynamics of that particular system are, well, Canajun.

Don't listen to these people saying not to approach someone on a subway! Screw it...so if she thinks she's in "danger" and shuts you down, so what? Don't be afraid to approach women anywhere. If anything, it'll give you the confidence to not think twice about it rather than asking people on the internet how to do it.

First, try to make eye contact...which may be hard on the subway.

And just walk up/sit next to her, and say "hi." Be very confident, it shows when you're nervous, and being sure of yourself is attractive. If there's something in the moment you can talk about...use it. If she's reading something, ask her what she's reading, ect. It really doesn't matter what you say, but how you say it. Women read men's body language more than their actual words. Also, don't look like a ragdoll. Be presentable.

So you approached a woman? What's your plan...do you want to pick her up, or just chit-chat?

By the way, when I'm on the subway, I just coldly stare at the woman while rubbing my thighs.

I don't have a particular person in mind, yet. I'm not attracted to any of the ladies I see regularly.

Slappy is right about one thing, women do tend to read men's body language more than their words, which is why you need to come across as confident but non-threatening, should you decide to follow through on this slightly bizarre fantasy. Why the subway? What's wrong with a club/bar or a singles event?

Question for Slappy: So women read our body language more than our words, and then expect us to actually listen to them....what up wif dat?

I hear you about this whole listening thing. This dudette friend of mine started this huge rant with me about how I never listen to her and how I don't pick up on her "signals" and a bunch of other lies that I didn't quite catch because I wasn't paying attention.

Beth - what do yo mean by Canajun dynamics? Like, softer?

I always found people on the Tube in London, and subways in New York and Washington incredibly friendly and easy to chat to - mind you, I guess being female and looking very harmless helps!

I mean, I wasn't looking to pick anyone up, but just sharing a rueful smile about the crowding, or apologising if you bumped anyone seemed to work wonders, and I had some great talks with people - or just smiling if you made eye contact.

I didn't find friendly chats with fellas threatening at all, and a number initiated - I was a tourist and happy to meet the natives - but following me would have been way different.

Toronto wimmins tend to be a bit stand-offish, skeptical and cold, especially on the subway. Not too long ago, we had a series of subway pushings....by crazy folk who slipped through the cracks of the system, and a fair number of sicko stalkings and what not....in Toronto, the whole subway approaching thing just smells of 'stalker' to most wimmins here, IMO (O standing for observation).

Incidentally, I am perfectly willing to be corrected here.

Yikes!

It's important not to hesitate a moment.
Trust the movement of the moment
and
speak your mind.

There are legions of stories about meeting on trains, my favorite is one collected by Paul Auster. I'm going to go look it up so I tell it correctly.

later.

J

Standoffish was what I expected, I must say - but 'twas not so - well, a bit in London sometimes.

Again - being a goil prolly makes a lot of difference.

If the goil is in controil, all is good in her world.

This is as best I remember, people were asked how their parents met, this is one story.

My mother tells the tale this way. It was an early April afternoon in 1958. New York City. She was sitting on the L train from Brooklyn reading "Great Expectations" for one of her classes at NYU when a handsome man sat down in the seat across from her. "Alas, poor Pip," he said, "and so sad about Estella." She looked up from her book, smiled at his smile, and the two started talking, about Dickens and literature and NYU (where he was a student also, but in the Business School.) They were having such a wonderful time that when they got off at Union Square they continued talking and, instead of her going to the library, they ended up in a little coffee and bakery place where they shared a couple of cookies and talked some more. Time flew. Subjects flew. Art, politics, the cold war, more literature, history...... the shop filled and emptied several times and finally it was time to catch the train back to Brooklyn. They walked together to the subway and when they got on the train she wrote her name and phone number in the Dickens book and gave it to him just before she got off. He still had three stops to go but he would call her in the morning.
After the doors of the train shut he settled back in his seat and put the book by his side. The next thing he remembers is waking up when the train stopped at Eighth Ave in Manhattan! He must have fallen asleep, ridden to the end of the line in Brooklyn and then slept all the way back into Manhattan. His jacket was gone and worse, the Dickens book. In all that talking he's never gotten her last name, just some hints about what classes she had so even though he tried for the next two months to find her, it was hopeless.
Meanwhile, she was heartbroken in Brooklyn, why, after such a nice, no, after such a spectacular afternoon, why hadn't he called? Why hadn't she paid more attention when he was telling her about his class schedule, why couldn't she remember his last name? She finished her classes at NYU, and began to make inquiries about a semester abroad, in the fall in Paris. Her summer was bound up in making preparations and getting her materials ready for the study of French Literature. One day on a whim in a local bookstore she bought another copy of "Great Expectations" and she read most of it that September on the boat to France.

Later that month, while in a little Paris cafe, she was reading the last chapters when a man approached her table. "Alas, poor Pip." he said,"and so sad about Estella."

She looked up from her book and there he was again.