Scrubby girl: …so he said I spent too much on bags, and I should sell some. But I love bags, and I get them all on sale!
Professional girl: How much do you spend on bags a month?
Scrubby girl: Around a thousand.
Professional girl: And how much is your rent?
Scrubby girl: Eight hundred.
Professional girl: So sell some fucking bags. Jesus!
–14th & A
Overheard by: Corocet
Girl: Little Italy is changing so much. Look at this place, this doesn’t belong here…
Guy: Why not? It’s called “Casa Bella.” That means “beautiful house.”
Girl: “Bella” doesn’t mean “house.”
–Mulberry & Hester
Overheard by: Wow
Little boy getting out of car, looking down at curb: There’s no rats here, Dad. You can go now, there’s no rats.
Dad: Son, get yo’ lunch bag.
–95th between 3rd & Lex
Getting on the crowded E at rush hour, a couple from Long Island forces into the train as the doors are closing.
Long Island woman: Come on people, make some room. [To companion] Can you imagine what it’s like in that city in Asia, in China I think, what’s it called?
Long Island dude: Japan?
Long Island woman: Yeah, Japan, that’s the city! They push you into the cars there!
Random suit: You mean like you just pushed all of us?!
–5th Ave E station
Overheard by: Greg the E train rider
Yuppie tween #1: Avril is so hard core.
Yuppie tween #2: Yeah, but Ashlee is way more rock than Avril.
Yuppie tween #1: Avril is, like, … woah!
Yuppie tween #2: But Ashlee has black hair and sings about her life!
Yuppie tween #1: Avril is so hard core that sometimes I have to plug my ears ’cause it’s like, “Avril, you are so hard core!”
–86th & Broadway
Boy: Yo, you know what would be cool? If they made black-out instead of white-out.
Girl: Yeah! And yellow-out, too!
–Stuyvesant High School
Overheard by: Mary Button
Kid : What kind of things do you make?
Balloon-twisting clown: Animals, minerals, vegetables. That kind of thing.
–Gramercy Street Fair, 3rd Ave
Girl #1: Uh, so what’s with these black lights in the tunnels? Are they doing construction? I feel like I’m in a club or something!
Girl #2: Sweetie, that’s daylight.
Girl #1: Oh. But the buildings are glowing!
–1 Train approaching 125th
Overheard by: Melissa Coppola
Rasta steel drum guy: This next song is about the comin’ of the Messiah.
Jewish woman: Yeah! We’re still waiting!
–Battery Park
Overheard by: Robin Christiansen
White girl #1: Look at that Asian girl! She’s such a whore!
White girl #2: Dude, there’s this Asian girl in my psychology course, she’s a whore, too.
An Asian girl: Excuse me? Um, what is your problem? What, do you think all Asians are whores?
A very long pause.
White girl #1: Yes.
–Madison Square Garden
