Guy: Excuse me, I wanted to know if any black women would go out with me. If I were the last man on Earth, would you go out with me? [Black lady does not respond.] What if there were 20 minutes until the end of the world? [Still no response, so guy addresses another lady.] What about you? Would you go out with me?
Woman: What’s the point?
Guy: Alright, let’s start from the beginning… [Holding up gallon of apple juice] I have some apple juice — will you split it with me?
–Union Square station
Muscular balck guy enters holding his shirt, wearing only boxers.
Young white mother: How did you know it was going to rain?
Black guy: I didn’t want my shirt to get wet, so I took it off.
Old hobo, panhandling: Man, you could give lap dances right here!
–R train
Overheard by: Emma
Black chick: What kind of soup do you got?
Chinese deli guy: Uhhh, we got some chicken noodle soup.
Black chick: Oh, just chicken noodle soup?
Chinese deli guy, singing and dancing: With a soda on the side! [Black chick glares at him in silence.] Uhhh, yeah, that’s all.
Black chick: That’s fuckin’ ign’ant, man.
–106th & 2nd
Black chick, hysterical: Hahaha, and what did the guy say — hahaha — when he fell from the building? Hahaha, what he say?
Black dude: Um… I don’t know…
Black chick: Hahaha, he said, ‘Ouch!’ Hahaha, I’m so hyper!
Black dude: Yo, there’s a new energy drink — it’s called crack.
–Hunter College, 8th floor balcony
Overheard by: Liza
Black girl, in smelly stairwell: Nigga, it smells like yo’ mama’s coochie up in this bitch!
Black guy: What the fuck you snortin’ in my mom’s cooch for?!
–Kingsborough Community College
Black guy #1: I just realized this is a long-ass ride! It’s like 15 minutes!
Black guy #2: Shut up, nigga.
Black guy #1: Is that your breath I smell? It smells like you ate roast beef with a side of shit… and grits.
–1 train
Overheard by: DC
Black teen girl #1, about screaming baby at other end of car: Yo, someone needs to tell that baby to hush up.
Black teen girl #2: Damn, I know, right? Yo, baby, shut the fuck up!
–Coney Island-bound D train
Black guy: What the fuck is wrong with you? How are you not gonna like pussy?
Friend, with cornrows: ‘Cause, fool! There’s only one thing better, and that’s money.
Black guy, concurring: The only thing.
–Port Authority
Overheard by: Sleepy Monkey
Queer black man #1: I am stupid, dumb, and crazy.
Queer black man #2: Mmm-hm.
Queer black man #1: But I am not slow. I never was.
Queer black man #2: You never were.
Queer black man #1: I never was.
Queer black man #2: It’s ‘were. I never were.’ I was an English major.
Queer black man #1: It’s, ‘I never was.’ I went to school. You’re speaking some sort of crazy… some crazy Ebonics language.
Queer black man #2: Bitch, you stupid, dumb, and crazy.
Queer black man #1: Mmm-hm, that’s right.
–M10 bus, 110th & CPW
Overheard by: A former English minor, weeping.
Young black woman #1: I’m sick of people all up in my face during my job.
Young black woman #2: Yeah?
Young black woman #1: Yeah, people come up yelling, ‘They took my babies away from me!’ and I’m like, ‘Well, maybe you should stop smoking the crack…’
–A train
Overheard by: Jesse
