Multiculturalism, Overheard Style

Italian woman #1: He looks like a sand digger!
Italian woman #2: What’s that, like a bug?
Italian woman #1: No, you know, a sand digger.
Italian woman #2: What’s that?
Italian woman #1: A camel jockey! That’s what people in Bay Ridge call them, sand diggers, because they are always shoveling sand in the desert.

–John & Pearl

Chick: So, where are you from?
Guy: I’m from Brooklyn.
Chick: No, you have an accent.
Guy: Oh yeah, well, my parents are Eurotrash.

–Broad & Exchange

During trailer for horror movie where young girl peeks in door of creepy house and says, ‘Hello?’…

Thugette: Why they be goin’ into some abandoned-ass house like that?
Thug: ‘Cause they white.

–Court Street cineplex, Brooklyn

Overheard by: MrStench

Chick #1: Ahh! Why am I, like, sweating?
Chick #2: What is your shirt made of, cotton?
Chick #1: Well, it’s from Forever 21, so it’s probably dead Chinese children.

–Columbia University

Overheard by: Magnolia Thunderpussy

White guy on cell: Yo, shit nigga, this shit the bomb!
Black guy: If you close your eyes, he almost sounds like the real deal.

–Houston & Varick

Overheard by: Adam Nathan

Little white boy: Will someone tell him that the Indians were playing the Yankees the other day!!?
Little Indian boy: Will someone tell him that Indians don’t play baseball? I should know, I’m Indian!

–2 train

Old woman: “Free“? Nothing’s free around here! That’s what’s wrong with you immigrants, always looking for something for free!
Businessman lady: I said “sweet”, not “free”.
Old woman: I know what you meant!

–Zeytuna, William & Maiden Lane

Two guys are speaking Russian.

Girl: Are you guys from Russia?
Guy #1: Yes.
Girl: No way! My grandma’s from Germany.

–Washington Square Park

Overheard by: MP

Woman: Are these Japanese dolls?
Employee: Yes.
Woman: Oh, are you Japanese?
Employee: No.
Woman: Are you sure?

–Union Square

Old man: It takes a student of human nature. You have to talk to people. You never know what it is you are talking to. You never know if that person just crawled out of a sewer.

–Elevator, Hudson & Broome

Overheard by: Rick Felice