Eight-year-old son: Dad, I can’t even tell the Ninja Turtles apart! They all look the same, they just have different bandages and stuff.
Dad: Well, do you know their names?
Son: Uhhh… There’s the blue one… Armadillo?
–Washington Heights
Overheard by: hero in a half shell
(small child is scrubbing the subway walls with a Kleenex)
Child: Oooooh! Dirty!
Mother (holding up hand-sanitizer): We’re anti-bacteriaing the subway.
–A Train
Mother, to little boy, who is trying to sneak behind some dividers: Stop it. You can’t do that!
Little boy: Why not?
Mother: Because this is New York! People here have more class than you!
–Bouchon Bakery, Time Warner Center, Columbus Circle
Little girl: Have you ever seen an emergency on the train?
Dad: No, sweetie.
Little girl: Have you ever seen an emergency at home?
Dad: Oh, yeah, I have. Remember when Uncle George cut off his ear?
–N train to Manhattan
Overheard by: ADC
Young boy: I can read this. “Do not lean against door.”
Mom: Close. “Do not lean… on… door.” Very good! Did the picture help you read it?
Young boy: No, yes, no, no!
–6 Train
Overheard by: Phillip Roncoroni
Elderly woman: Come on now, we're disemboating…
Sassy son: “Disemboating”? How about “disembarking”? What are they teaching you at the home, English for Americans?
–Ferry to Governors Island
Overheard by: Loves to Disemboat and her colleague, Chronic Disemboater
Little boy: Mommy, I’m thirsty.
Mother: How is that my problem?
–5th Ave & 6th St, Park Slope
Overheard by: ecp
Little boy: When will it be Hanukkah?
Dad: Not for a while.
Little boy: But I'm begging you for Hanukkah.
Dad: You got some time until it's Hanukkah, buddy.
Little boy: Now you'll never get me a present!
Dad: (begins to leave with the little boy)
Little boy: I am not moving until it's Hanukkah!
–Bagel Shop, The Village
Overheard by: wilpon
JAP on cell: If more people wore glitter there would no war.
–Therapy Store
Crazy old guy: I want a dog for president. You know why? Dogs don't start wars.
–31St & Ditmars, Astoria
Overheard by: Randi and Patrick
(at an anti-war rally)
Street vendor: Say no to war, say yes to Louis Vuitton!
–Midtown
Overheard by: Oh the irony
50-something guy on cell: You see, we are a military agency, not a government agency. (pause) So when I punched out that Homeland Security guy, I punched out a civilian.
–Union Square Park
Overheard by: Ksenia
Eight-year-old boy: I dare you to fight in the civil war!
–7 Train
Mother: And I got you some of those little erasers that look like potpies and sushi and stuff, apparently all the kids collect them and trade them these days.
Daughter: Mom, you are aware that I'm 23?
–Penn Station
