Ragged old black guy with wad of cash in hand, teasing: You gonna let me cut the line, right?
Clerk: Please get on the end of the line.
Ragged old black guy: I’ma buy me that 250-dollar Blue Label up there. You gonna let me get on the front of this line, right?
Clerk: [Ignores him.]Ragged old black guy: 250 dollars for Blue Label for me to get drunk and run over some kids!
–Liquor store, 23rd & Park
Overheard by: Baby G
Black teen #1: See ya later.
Black teen #2: Cheerio, nigga.
–School, 17th St
Overheard by: John
Hobo: Caw! Caw! Tweet! Gobble! Gobble!
Black cop to another: See, man, that’s what’s happening to our people.
–8th Ave, between 35th & 36th
Overheard by: NRG
Hobo: Go shorty, it’s your birthday…
Drunk black woman, joining in: Yeah! Go, go!
Hobo: Shorty, it’s your shorty…
Drunk black woman: You singing it wrong. It’s, ‘We gonna party like it’s your birthday.’
Passerby gives hobo two dollars.
Drunk black woman: You need to give me half of that, I helped you out with the words.
–E train
Overheard by: Ruth
Black chick #1: Geminis are the only people we need in this world.
Black chick #2: No, I think you’re wrong.
Black chick #1: What sign are you?
Black chick #2: I’m a Libra.
Black chick #1: No, we don’t need no Libras, Aries, or Tauruses.
Black chick #2 to her friend: What sign are you?
Friend: I think I’m a Scorpio.
Black chick #1: I’ve fucked a few Scorpios, they’re okay.
–2 train
Overheard by: Just wanted to get home
Spanish guy: She’s half Spanish.
Black woman: No, she’s black.
Spanish guy: No, she’s half Spanish.
Black woman: She ain’t no half Spanish. Her name is Juanita. That don’t sound Spanish to me.
–Holiday Inn, 57th & 10th
Overheard by: CGS
Old black guy #1: You know who really has their shit together?
Old black guy #2: Who?
Old black guy #1: The Amish.
Old black guy #2: For sure.
–F train
Female associate: … See, that’s his problem. He be startin’ shit with niggas when he know he ain’t armed!
Male associate: He gon’ get stabbed again.
Female associate: He get stabbed again, I’ma be like, ‘See ya!’ You can’t talk shit you ain’t got no gun!
–Filene’s Basement, Union Square
Overheard by: Manhattan
Black man: So, where you from?
Hot chick: Portugal.
Black man: Shiiit! I’ve never heard that one before.
–Spring & Broadway
Overheard by: Maria
A man jumps onto the subway tracks to retrieve an item for his female companion.
Black teen chick #1: What is that guy doing?
Black teen chick #2: Is that a black man?! It figures that’s a black man! You gotta set a better example for our people!
–Borough Hall
