Manhattan

Old lady: Hey, you know what time it is? You got a face so pretty, I swear I’ll have to cut you if you don’t tell me what time it is.
Guy: Five thirty.

–Penn Station

Overheard by: Romanoff

Little girl: Will I have big mountain nungas like you someday?
Big sister: Only hillocks, I fear.

–58th & 6th

Overheard by: EAK

Tweenie boy #1: Michael Jackson SUCKS!
Tweenie boy #2: Well, did you hear his music when he was black?
Tweenie boy #1: Michael Jackson was black?!

–Central Park

Overheard by: nas

Little Boy, running towards pigeon on sidewalk: RAWWWWWR!
Mother: Sweetie, they’re not afraid here. This is New York.

–39th & 3rd

Overheard by: erin

Dreadlocked guy: I’m a customer and you’re saying I can’t use the restroom?

Ambiguously ethnic deli owner: You can’t use it this often. You come here every day and stay there for 20-25 minutes. I don’t know what you’re doing in there.

Dreadlocked guy: Well if you want to get so technical, the first time I was taking a dump.

–34th & 1st

Teen boy #1: Fuck, these fucking Fig Newtons taste like shit. And what the fuck is a fig, anyway?
Teen boy #2: I don’t know, but whatever the fuck it is, it looks like you’re eating a shit cookie.

–51st between 9th & 10th

Jappy highschool queen bee to Starbucks guy wearing earrings: Are those real diamonds?
Twentysomething African-American Starbucks guy: No.
Jappy highschool queen bee: Awwww I’ll mail you some real ones for your Bar Mitzvah, okay?

–Stabrucks, 78th & Lex

Girl #1: She said to meet her in front of some type of iron building.
Girl #2: What’s that?
Girl #1: I don’t know. Some building made out of iron. What’s that building made out of?

–23rd & Broadway

Tourist girl [standing in middle of busy sidewalk]: Oh, excuse me! [spins around] Oh! [turns around] Omigod! Like, I just ran into like four people and I’m not even walking!
City guy: Try walking.
Tourist girl: What?
City guy [reluctantly drawn in]: Look, in New York most people aboveground get where they’re going by walking. The sidewalks are the main roads in the city.
Tourist girl: [blank stare] City guy [getting frustrated]: If you were driving on a busy road, you wouldn’t just stop or take random turns in traffic without checking your mirrors or signaling, right?
Tourist girl: How do I signal?

–43rd & Broadway