Son to mother sitting at diner: Mom, why am I so small? Am I going to grow?
Mother: Yes, honey, of course you will. You're perfect just the way you are.
(son starts blowing bubbles in his soda and asks mother to start blowing bubbles in his soda too. She starts, then looks around at some people staring at them)
Mother: You know, I just realized how gross this is.
–Diner, 53rd & 1st
Hipster turned emo #1: So, I was thinking that I should just dye my hair black, wear a lot of dark eyeliner, and talk about how much my mom hates me.
Hipster turned emo #2: I think that's a great idea, but you also need to stop representing yourself as a happy individual, and make sure that the black eyeliner has that smudgy look.
Goth fat kid with way too many piercings: Shut the fuck up already. You're wasting my oxygen.
–Union Square
Jewish father: Here, let me zipper your jacket.
Three-year old girl: Hmm… yeah… let's. Yeah, well…
Jewish father: Stop mumbling already. You know no one can understand you?
–Lower East Side
Salesgirl: And this is the Carol's Daughter line of hair and body products. The creator named it after her mother, Carol.
Sarcastic customer: Really? Wow, I'd never imagine that.
Salesgirl, not getting sarcasm: Yeah, isn't that really cool?
–Sephora, W 34th St
Overheard by: nisey79
Dude #1: Dude, you're gonna love pediatrics!
Dude #2: Dude, I know. Dude! I was at the clinic, and there was this girl, you know, already laid back in the chair. She was waiting for something, I don't know, I don't know what she was waiting for, but she was already back in the chair, and… dude, she was sick hot. Like, she was a local, but she looked like a Dominican Jennifer Lopez.
Dude #1: Dude, you're gonna have so much fun with that!
Dude #2: I know, dude. I'm gonna fuckin lay my talons into that shit. Single moms? There are gonna be a ton of single moms! Third year? Good times, dude!
Dude #1: (chuckles into the stunned silences of dudes #3 and #4)
Dude #2: I'm glad I took ethics, dude. Shit, ethics? I didn't really learn a whole lot from ethics, dude.
Dudes #3 and #4: (amplified stunned silence)
–Butler Library, Columbia University
Overheard by: Lili
Guy to stranger, about girl who just left: Yo, that your girl?
Stranger: Nah, she a friend.
(silence)
Guy: She look like her mother?
Stranger: Does she?
Guy: I don't know, I'm asking you.
–McDonald's, Brooklyn
Overheard by: Julio C
Ghetto mother: Say goodbye to your daddy because you ain't never gonna see him again.
Ghetto child: Bye daddy!
–Staten Island Ferry Terminal
Overheard by: Ashley
Kid: Mom, we've got to buy ourselves some money!
Mom: You don't buy money.
Kid: Then how do you get it?
Mom: You work, then you get paid.
Kid: So that's why we don't have any?
–2nd Ave & Houston St
Overheard by: Sarah McL
Drunk thug, reflecting on his baby-mama's new man: I love motherfuckin' guns, and that's the bottom line, but I don't wanna go to jail.
–Bar, Cortelyou Road
Boy to limping blonde struggling to keep up: Oh my god, if you were a horse I would shoot you.
–NJ Transit
Overheard by: The Game
Father to two small children, pulling them away from the register: C'mon, guys. Let's go before mommy shoots herself.
–Forbidden Planet, 13th & Broadway
Loud black girl: It's Manhattan, I don't have to worry about getting shot.
–NYU
Guy on cell: Hey man, aren't you tired of being shot?
–Queens Center Mall
Mom: I've told you to stop cursing so much!
Daughter: And I've told you, if I stopped cursing all the time, the other words in my sentences would get lonely!
–Central Park
Overheard by: Katherine
