"If someone would have told me I was going to spend 10-12 hours in front of a computer most days to do my job, I would never have chosen my current occupation, but it seems like most jobs these days require constant computer use."
CAROLYN HEINRICH
actually, in french mouse is souris (and bat is "shaved mouse", chauve souris)
i think the french just know the italian word. i think there have been other celebrity topi, like Topo Gigio. i wrote a little script tool to explore/confirm my network topology, and i call it gigio :) it's based on testing ad hoc knowledge of my network topology so it's not generally useful.
The etymology of "chauve" (bald) in "chauve-souris" (bat) is debated, but I've often read that it could be a deformation of a word designating an owl or a crow (it would be a cognate with the late Latin "cavannus" (tawny owl), for example).
On a similar note, the "cerf" (deer) in "un cerf-volant" (a kite toy) probably derive from occitan sèrp (snake) as a reference to dragon-shaped kites from Asia.