Illness

Girl: I think I have gout. Look at my fat knees!
Guy friend: Are you sure you're not just having self-image issues?

–Starbucks, 96th & Madison

Yuppie mom to crying daughter: Sophie, put your jacket on or you're going to get sick and have to get shots!
Detached father: Yeah, ten shots…and they'll hurt.

–Bleecker & MacDougal

Overheard by: Samskiii

English professor: So who here is eligible to vote but isn't?
(student raises hand)
English professor: Why aren't you voting?
Ditzy Asian girl: I dunno… I just don't know who to vote for.
English professor: But…they're so different. They're like chocolate ice cream and…gravel.

–Hunter College

Overheard by: Shakti

Girl to older sister: Man, you have so many problems. Mom once said that otherwise she thought you could get all kinds of money for your eggs from infertile couples but you're just, like, so messed up.
Older sister: Yeah, but whatever. I can understand why people don't want eggs from an epileptic thyroidless girl. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm excited to have my own potentially epileptic and thyroidless children, but other people just…don't understand.
Girl: Yeah, your people are just so misunderstood.

–1 Train

Overheard by: I understand!

Girl, reading Hydrocortisone cream label: What is “sorey asses”?
Friend: It's “psoriasis,” asshole!

–Morningside Heights

Overheard by: Sarah

Young boy to mother: You poop too much. You poop all the time.
Mother: But everyone poops all the time. It's good to poop. People who don't poop are in trouble because they are constipated.

–Food Coop, Park Slope

Overheard by: Sometimes I'm in trouble too

Korean girl to white guy: Why do you find it necessary to squint your eyes when you do an Asian impression?

–L Train

Overheard by: john.ainley

White girl to friends: And then a ninjician pulled a chopstick out of her ear!

–Veniero's Pastry Shop

Overheard by: Amy

Asian chick: Asians are obsessed with analyzing poop.

–Max Restaurant, Tribeca

Overheard by: Shringle

Woman begging for change: Can I get some quarters? (pause) My cousin-in-law is Chinese. Come on!

–52nd & Lexington

Overheard by: NMT

Asian woman, after sneezing: Just cuz I'm a sneezin' Asian don't mean I got SARS.

–Port Authority Bus Terminal

Overheard by: CNaughty

White girl on cell: Okay, I'm going to sound crazy, but there's this Asian guy in one of my classes…and he looks just like Ashley…and I just want to run up and say "Can I take a picture of you? Because you look just like my black girlfriend!"

–Dorm Building, Cooper Union

Student #1: What does “NB” stand for, at the end?
Student #2: Tuberculosis.
Student #1: That's “TB”, idiot.

–Newman Vertical Campus, Baruch College

Overheard by: I thought that stood for TELLYtuBBies!

Adorable little boy: Mommy, can I have a Hershey bar?
Mom: Yes.
Adorable little boy: I want this big one.
Mom: You can't have a candy bar that big…you might catch the obesity virus.

–Broadway & 2nd

French girl #1: My friend cannot eat pineapple, because the last time he did, he got this -what do you call it- in his mouth…
American guy: Herpes!
French girl #2: Uh… I don't know if that is the word.
French girl #1: Yea, he ate it and had these little spots…
American guy: Herpes! I have herpes all the time, too.
French girl #2: Maybe it is the same word in English.
(later)
French girl #1: Well he has this small problem near his eye…
American guy: An eye tumor?
French girl #1: Yes, like a little, uh, tumor.
American guy: Man, you guys have weird diseases in France.

–Whole Foods, Union Square

Overheard by: AJ