Skinny Indian girl: It’s hot in here.
Chunky white girl: Too hot.
Skinny Indian girl: Well, at least it’s better than too cold.
Chunky white girl: How so?
Skinny Indian girl: Well, now I can wear a t‑shirt.
Chunky white girl: Yeah, but like, if it gets too hot we can’t be whipping our clothes off. Nobody needs to see my pale shit.
Skinny Indian girl: Yeah, true.
Chunky white girl: Shit, girl. I have to buy my foundation at funeral homes.
–The Met
Teenage dude #1: It’s hot in here.
Teenage dude #2: That’s ‘cuz you don’t shut up. You usin’ up all the oxygen!
–Subway Elevator
Overheard by: Purple Hat Lady
Gay guy #1: Girl! Why are you wearing that coat? It’s hot outside!
Gay guy #2, in huge black faux fur coat: It’s to cover up the jumpsuit!
Gay guy #1: I think the coat makes you look more tranny than the jumpsuit.
–L Train
Latino nanny to redheaded toddler, after he throws his hat at her: Put your hat back on your hair! It’s freaking people out.
–Central Park
Disheveled raggedy hobo, reprimanding suit: Get a haircut!
–Wachovia Wells Fargo
Overheard by: CS
Loud black girl on cell phone: You know where the train station is, where all them homeless people live? Yeah, that’s where I go get my hair done. She doesn’t fuck my hair up, because I told her, “you best not fuck my hair up.” And now she never does. (chuckles)
–LIRR
Overheard by: kill her
Beautiful angry woman on cell: I had told you to meet me at 116th Street because I got my hair in my bag! My weave hair! I had wanted to do my hair later, because it’s too damn hot to be sitting up in that place. But I’m not going to no damn barbecue with weave hair in my bag!
–The Bronx
Overheard by: Shrimp on the barbie
Little boy with squirt gun: No! You wetted my hair! My beautiful flowing hair!
–Rockefeller Park
Young white guy to sweating black FedEx delivery man in elevator: Wow, it’s really hot outside, no?
Sweating black FedEx man: Man, it’s a brotisserie.
–78th St & Madison Ave
Sick cop to another: The way I see it, you’ve got seven holes in your head. If you don’t wanna get sick, you just gotta keep your fingers out of those seven holes. Then you’ll be good.
–ER, Saint Vincent Hospital
Overheard by: Dustin
Old‐school pimp on cell: I’m sick. (pause) Naw, baby, I just want you to bring me some money and chicken soup.
–96th & Columbus Ave
Woman on phone: Yeah, I’m doing really well. I just have some cancerous issues. But other than that, I’m great!
–East Village
Overheard by: Erin
Woman to friend: So I was worried I had a urinary tract infection or something, even though it didn’t hurt when I was peeing. But it turns out it was just a pube stuck in my clit.
–R Train
Overheard by: what the hell?
Guy to friend: So, I finally got athlete’s foot.
–116th & Broadway
Chick to guy friend: Well, if you hadn’t spent the entire morning cursing out yo momma, then you wouldn’t had gotten swine flu!
–Edward R. Murrow High School, Brooklyn
Overheard by: Amused Freshman
Hippie girl on cell: Hey, mom! How are you? (pause) Not so good, actually, my bloodwork just came back and I have Lyme disease! (pause) I know…it’s like 70 degrees here!
–42nd & Park Ave
Overheard by: AwkwardTwig
Angry bus driver: Get out of my rear. Get out of my rear.
–Q44 Bus
Overheard by: This is why men do not give birth
Law professor, pulling out a cough drop: Sorry guys, if I don’t suck on this, I just won’t make it.
–CUNY Law School
Overheard by: That’s what she said
Chemistry teacher: No, it’s really warm here. (pause) Feel my test‐tube.
–Stuyvesant High School
Large black lady to girlfriend: I’m not gonna let him put his babbaganush in my peace pipe!
–Houston St & 1st Ave
Overheard by: ian has a face
Loud woman on cell: Yes, he stuck it up my right one, and when it was halfway in, I was like “ow, you need to take it out!” and then he stuck it up my left one, and I felt no discomfort!
–72nd & 2nd
Old lady to another: So is there an oral tradition in your family then?
–86th & Broadway
Overheard by: Frenchie
Fat girl at bar: Be hot, be educated, bend me over. That’s all I want.
–Kenny’s Castaways
Overheard by: Richard
Conductor (bitchily): Ladies and gentlemen, if you think the car you are in is too hot, feel free to get up and move!
–NJ Transit, Penn Station
Teenage girl to friend: Yeah, right, like, “Hi, I took the school bus with you in elementary school. Now you’re really hot.” (both laugh)
–Hunter College High School
Overheard by: Rosebud
Man on phone: Hey man, she was hot. But listen, don’t tell her I have a girlfriend, okay?
–5th Ave & 10th St
Overheard by: i’m going to break it to her gently
Teenage girl on cell: Yes, I know you’re not supposed to take pills from people you don’t know, but he was so hot! And then I think I had sex with him.
–Chinatown Bus Station
Overheard by: Emily
Professor: Old people will sign anything.
–Brooklyn College
Professor: What do you guys think of this poster? It annoys me. I would wear this on a t‑shirt just to annoy people.
–Pratt Institute
Sociology professor: New York is a megalopolis, while Boston is only a metropolis, although Bostonites would argue that… Bostonites… Bostoners… Bostonians? Pshhh, whatever.
–Fordham University
Overheard by: Sromeo
Philosophy professor, drawing: Here is the world… Here are some birds… And people. Here’s someone… Here’s someone hitting someone with an ax. Some people do axings… Some people don’t.
–Fordham University
Overheard by: no axings!
Old professor with French accent: Hot climate is associated in this book with passion or sex. I think that I, for example, really never did have sex in a sub‐zero temperature.
–NYU Cantor Film Center
Overheard by: suddenly surrounded by students’ awkward snickers
Sociology professor: I’ll tell you a story that most people laugh hysterically at, but it actually makes me really sad… Kind of like Napoleon Dynamite.
–Fordham University
Overheard by: Sromeo
Hipster chick: … And she was wearing velvet?! Velvet! How can you wear velvet in this heat?!
Bicycle jock: Maybe it was CoolMax.
–F train
Overheard by: Braincurve
