Wednesday One‐Glove‐Liners

20‐something female shopkeeper to coworker, as Michael Jackson’s “Rock with You” plays on the radio: Did you hear he’s sick? Apparently, he’s in the hospital. I know, it’s crazy. Can you imagine if he dies? If he dies, that’ll be, like, the most awful thing to happen to America in years!

–Pet Food Store

Overheard by: Nathalie

Suit on cell: What if Michael Jackson sucking your dick was the cure for cancer?

–8^th & Broadway

Man, lighting cigarette: So what’d he die from? A sunburn?

–Chambers St. & West Broadway

Middle aged black lady on cell: If you can get Michael Jackson on a condom box it would definitely sell.

–MacDougal & 8^th St

Nine‐year‐old boy, pointing to a newspaper article, to younger sister: Oh yeah, that guy? He was fifty. He used to be a black guy but made himself become white.

–Canal & Orchard, Chinatown

Overheard by: Lauren T.

Large tattooed man, discussing Michael Jackson: One of those kids is his; the other two can’t be, they’re white. They were all unofficially inseminated, though.

–Delancey & Essex

Posted on May 27, 2023
About Celebrities, Age/Aging, All Wednesday One-Liners, BJs, Black People, Brothers, Cancer, Chinatown, Colors, Compare/Contrast, Condoms, Coworkers, Death, Fat People, Health and Hygiene, Illness, Kids, Lower East Side, Men, Music, On Cell, One-liners, Penis, Pregnancy & Birth Control, Questions, Race, Sisters, Store, Street, Stupidity, Suits, The Village, Wall Street, TriBeCa, South Street Seaport, Wednesday One-Liners, Weirdness, Women

It Would Deprive Her of the Pleasure

Girl: Man, I feel like shit.
Guy: Why?
Girl: What if he was seriously hurt?
Guy: Huh?
Girl: I’ve been thinking about breaking up with him, and what if he had died?
Guy: It’d save you the trouble?

–PS 321, Park Slope

Posted on May 10, 2023
Breaking Up, Brooklyn, Death, Girls, Guys, Park Slope, Places, School, Sex & Relationships, Topics

Like You Should Talk, Mr. “I Want You to Do Lines with My Ashes”?

Teenage girl: I want to be cremated into a diamond. Or…oh! A pearl!
Boyfriend: What, you want your family to put your ashes in a clam shell and hope for the best? Good luck with that!

–F Train

Overheard by: Should Ride the F More Often

Posted on March 28, 2023
Boyfriends, Death, Family Ties, On the Subway, Teens, Weirdness, Wishes & desires

Aren’t You Glad We Can Talk Like This?

Older woman #1: This is my shih tzu. I got her when my yorkie died.
Older woman #2: I got my yorkie when my sister died.
Older woman #1: I don’t know what I’d do if my shih tzu died.

–Union Square

Posted on February 11, 2023
Death, Man's Best Friend, Old People, Union Square and East Village

We Prefer to Think of Wednesday One‐Liners as “Found Art”

Girl on cell: So I bought this air conditioner for my living room, and it’s entirely too large for me to install by myself, because it weighs 78 lbs. No, seriously, I cannot even get it out of the box. I know – for the time being I’m just referring to it as a Duchamp “readymade.” Ew! Don’t you call me bohemian!

–19^th & 6^th

Art professor: You should look at Picasso and Matisse. These people will be more important to you than your family. Cousin Philly. I had a cousin Philly, and I loved him very much. But he’s dead now.

–Pratt Institute

Overheard by: traPt

Lawyer to friend, about Vincent van Gogh: You know, I could have gotten him disability.

–Van Gogh Exhibit, MoMA

Woman, discussing gallery: It was all modern stuff – but not, like, the kind of modern art that children can do.

–20^th & 5^th

Tourist boy: You can see his penis! It’s not art if you can see his penis!

–Petrie Court, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Posted on February 10, 2023
All Wednesday One-Liners, Boys, Chelsea & the Meatpacking District, College, Compare/Contrast, Death, Family Ties, Friends, Girls, Handicaps, Height, Home, Sweet Home, Kids, Lawyers, MoMA, On Cell, One-liners, Penis, Shopping, Stupidity, Teachers/Professors, The Met, Tourists, Visual Art, Wednesday One-Liners, Weirdness, Women

Wednesday One‐Liners Tartare

Waspy girl to gaggle of friends: You know, medium‐rare is, like, totally the new medium. You know what I mean? (friends stare blankly) No, I guess you wouldn’t.

–6 Train

Overheard by: I Like Mine Bleeding

B&T CSR: Pork killed my father.

–80 Pine St

Overheard by: It’s me

Stroller‐pushing mom to friend: I gotta do something about her leg! It looks like freeze‐dried meat.

–DeKalb & Washington, Brooklyn

Overheard by: Morning Glory

NYU girl to friend: My hair smells like meat.

–NYU Kimmel Center

Overheard by: evanescent

Girl to friend: This is my pi system: it’s like a sausage.

–NYU Classroom

Man to can of corned beef: God, you understand me so well.

–Duane Reade

Overheard by: Murphy

Posted on January 29, 2023
9 to 5-ers, All Wednesday One-Liners, B & T, Body Parts, Brooklyn, Classroom, Compare/Contrast, Death, Duane Reade, Food, Friends, Girls, God, Hair, Men, Moms, Murder, NYU, On the Subway, One-liners, Sensory Experiences, Students, Stupidity, Wall Street, TriBeCa, South Street Seaport, Wednesday One-Liners, Weirdness

Proving Zombie Hamilton’s Fears About Democracy

Guy: That’s a really old graveyard. They have tombstones going back to the 1600s.
Girl: I dont understand. How is that possible?
Guy: It’s an old church. People were buried there a long time ago.
Girl: Yeah, but wasn’t our country made around the 1770s?
Guy: Yes, but there were colonists here from France, England and Spain before that.
Girl: So they brought their dead relatives over here to bury them?

–Trinity Church

Overheard by: Jonathan Bloom

Posted on December 30, 2022
Buildings, Death, Girls, Global Geography, Guys, History & Geography, Idiots, Stupidity, Talking/Convos

The Modern‐Day Equivalent Of the Bell Tolling

Girl #1: Michael Jackson is dead? Really?
Girl #2: Yeah, we read it on TMZ. They’re usually pretty good about knowing when people are dead.

–The Mill

Posted on December 6, 2022
About Celebrities, Death, Girls, News, Restaurants & Cafes

Mortal Wednesday One‐Liners

Loud old lady: I pray for death every day, because if you pray for death, you will never die.

–Metro‐North train

Guy giving directions to friend: I think it’s near the corner where we saw that lady get killed.

–W 32^nd St, near 6^th Ave

Overheard by: Personally, I would avoid that corner.

Man on cell: No, you have to hide the body.

–33^rd & Madison

Overheard by: alex

Man on cell: I don’t know! He just called me up and said that I owe him 50 grand and that he’s coming to kill me… Yeah, I told him I have no idea what he’s talking about, but he said he’s coming to kill me anyway.

–77^th & Broadway

Man, about his time in halfway house: Murderers are just the nicest people, you know? I mean, they really understand human suffering.

–F train

Shabby guy on cell: Why should I be the only man that never died from a piece of ass?

–55^th & Madison

Posted on November 26, 2022
All Wednesday One-Liners, Death, Wednesday One-Liners, Wednesday One-Liners Vary

I’m Thankful I’m Alive

An unofficial memorial is covered with flowers, candles, cards and candy.

Drunk girl #1: Hey, who wants a Blow Pop?
Drunk guy: Um…I dunno.
Drunk girl #2: Don’t. It’s bad luck to take candy from the dead.
Drunk girl #1: …Yeah, I guess you’re right.

–3^rd between A & B

Overheard by: The Vouk

Girl: Don’t die while I’m gone, okay?
Guy: Why not?

–66^th & Columbus

Posted on November 12, 2022
Death, Drinking & Drunk People, Drunks, Food, Junk Food & Fast Food, Lower East Side, Manhattan, Street, Upper West Side & Lincoln Center

Death