Multiculturalism, Overheard Style

Spanish girl: Why are there so many Mexicans in Minnesota? Isn’t that really far north?
Spanish boy: I don’t know…
Spanish girl: I mean, how’d they swim that far?

–23rd & Lex

A bunch of Asian people get on the train.

Black teen boy #1: Whoa, shit! Half of China up in here!
Black teen boy #2: No shit, man. We better represent!
Black teen girl: I’ma get out my phone, be like, “Where my nigga Shaneequa at?”

–3 train, 116th St/Lenox Ave

Overheard by: quiubomona

Older man, screaming at Middle Eastern booth operator: You playa hata! You uptight and ignorant! This is bullshit! Go back to Leban!

–59th St subway station

Overheard by: Marissa

Frat boy: You need to go south of the Mason Dickinson line. That’s where you find the really hot girls.

–14th & 2nd

Thug: I don’t understand the Middle East shit. How can you be in the east and still be in the middle?!

–F train

Overheard by: Braincurve

Lady: I heard it was going to be a big thunderstorm out on Long Island. You know, just the Hamptons, Montauk and Connecticut.

–NYSC, Cobble Hill

Southern woman: Yeah, come meet us! We’re on Long Island!

–Battery Park

Overheard by: Caty

Mexican girl: Most European countries make you join the army at 18. Colombia, Peru…

–28th & Park

Overhead by: Lindsay

Teen tourist: If I was in America, I would send this back.

–Thai restaurant, 34th St & 30th Ave, Astoria

Overheard by: Jamie M

Bus driver: I gotta get out of this country. It’s too damn hot. I’m going to Alaska.

–M4 bus

Overheard by: Gwenn

Guy: Hey! Where’s my Sudanese pussy from Chinatown?

–14th & University

Guy on cell: I’ll meet you at the corner by the store with Chinese writing…Hey, wait a minute. All the fucking signs around here have Chinese writing.

–Walker & Lafayette

Overheard by: Wolf

Guy on cell: So, if this is true, then Dracula’s native language would be Hungarian rather than Romanian. And I think that is important for my research.

–Anthology Film Archives, 2nd St & 2nd Ave

Overheard by: nosy cinephile

Teen girl: This bag is mad Aztec.

–13th & University

Co-Worker: So, did she mention anything about Mexicans?

–Office, W 36th St

Overheard by: Evan

Well-Traveled girl: Mexico is not a Third-World country. JFK is.

–Tea Lounge, Park Slope

Small child: Mommy, look! You can tell he’s Mexican by his eyes!

–Bodies exhibit, South Street Seaport

White girl, to Asian girl: So wait, is he just not Japanese or not interested?

–Walgreens, Union Square

Overheard by: Goldie

Businesswoman: Well you can’t kill a Vietnamese man because that would just cost too much.

–I Trulli restaurant, E 27th St

Hobo: You’re not Polish; you just think you’re Polish!

–Tompkins Square Park

Voice over intercom: Will the foreign exchange student please come to the cashier.

–Century 21

Sassy chick: I can’t believe she’s moving to fucking Cambodia to live with a fucking cricket-hunter she’s only known for two months!

–TGI Friday’s, 52nd & 7th

Overheard by: Shaina

Texan mom: It says here that the French gave this statue as a gift.
Texan dad: Ain’t no way France coulda sent that. They ain’t got no boat big enough.
Texan mom: But it says here…
Texan dad: Ain’t possible means ain’t possible. Gittit?

–Liberty Island

Overheard by: Colman

Girl: Isn’t your dad Swiss?
Guy: No, he’s Swedish.
Girl: Oh, that’s right: people are Swedish, things are Swiss. Well, actually, they’re interchangeable.

–Sprint Store, 8th St & 6th Ave

Overheard by: Thunder

Girl: They were all over each other, practically disrobing.
Guy: Hey, I might have liked to have seen that.
Girl: No you wouldn’t have. They were Australian.

–Penn Station

Overheard by: Wic

Girl #1: Yo, all these places are Greek. Owned by people who are Greek, ya know?
Girl #2: That means they’re from the Middle East, right? Like Yugoslavia and shit.

–28th & Steinway, Astoria

Overheard by: Gregorio

New Yorker: Coney Island is fun if you like that stuff. I mean, there’s a lot of nationalities down there so their accents are all…They talk like the Sopranos. Do you know about the Sopranos?
Tourist: Um.

–R Train, 28th St

Overheard by: Nick McDowell

Black chick #1: C’mon.
Black chick #2: Alright, alright, what’s the rush?
Black chick #1: C’mon, I wanna see some white boys dancing.

–Outside Gazebo nightclub, 93rd St & 4th Ave, Bay Ridge

Overheard by: Capn MidNite