Two Words That Are Really Interchangable

(conductor makes muffled announcement)
Girl #1: (gasp)
Girl #2: What did she say?
Girl #1: “Stand clear of the closing doors, bitch!”
Woman nearby: I think she said “please”.
Man: I like their version better.

–A Train

Overheard by: Rose Fox

Headline by: Dawgn Heat

Runners-Up:
· “Dave Chappelle’s New Job As Subway Conductor Poses Some Problems” – Andrew
· “It Could Have Been, “Bitch, Please!” and Everyone Would Have Been Happy” – Jared Rizzi
· “Ludacris Finds Himself Unexpectedly Inspired” – SmR
· “Makes You Wonder What Charlie Brown’s Parents Were Really Saying” – Jeff
· “You Have to Use Profanity to Be Taken Seriously in New York” – KAC

Click here to see the new Headline Contest

Posted on January 5, 2009
Conductors, Headline Contest Winners, Insults, On the Subway, Passengers, Public Transportation, Words

Who Says New Yorkers Can't Be Gracious?

White guy, yelling to friends: Yo, where are you going? The train is this way!
Random black guy: It's not the fucking train! It's the fucking subway!
White guy: I live in Queens, I know what it's called.
Black guy: You white people are so fucking stupid. You go into the subway to get on a fucking train!
White girl: Well then it's a train!
Black guy: Fuck you, bitch!
White guy: Don't call her a bitch! You don't even know her!
Black guy, getting in their face: Fuck you, nigga! And fuck her! (pause) Wait…have you guys been drinking?
White guy: Yeah.
Black guy: Never mind, then. I was just fucking around. We cool?
(black and white guys laugh about it, shake hands, go their separate ways)

–Union Square

Overheard by: go rangers!

Posted on January 4, 2009
Black People, Drinking & Drunk People, Friends, Guys, Insults, Laughter, Public Transportation, Questions, Race, Stupidity, Union Square and East Village, White People

Reader Challenge: Think About This Before You Snuggle in Public

Young woman, trying to reach doors, to snuggly couple: Excuse me. (snuggly couple seem not to hear) Excuse me! (She pushes past them and exits train)
Tall white guy: It wasn't that annoying!

–B Train

Posted on January 3, 2009
Couples, Guys, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, On the Subway, Public Transportation, Women

Poor People Have Good Balance

Preppy Girl #1: You know what I don't get? Why are there no seat belts on the train?
Preppy Girl #2: Because it never makes any sudden stops.

–59th St Columbus Ave Train Station

Overheard by: Jami

Posted on January 2, 2009
Midtown & Hell's Kitchen, Preppies, Public Transportation, Questions, Subway Stations

Wednesday One-Liners Know When to Stop

Bus driver: We should be arriving in Port Authority soon, hopefully at our schedule arrival time, but it all depends on the Lord of the tunnel.

–Port Authority Bus

Overheard by: Emily

M60 bus driver, under breath, to traffic ahead: Mush. Mush. Yeah, mule. Mush. Git along.

–106th & West End

Bus driver on PA: Madam, don't let your children swing on the hand bars…this is not a jail.

–M15 Bus

Overheard by: bonoboxoxo

Funny bus driver in soft-spoken jazz voice: This is Madison Avenue. If this is you, get out. I wish I was getting out. Does anyone know how to get out? Next is Park Avenue…or it's not. Is anyone listening? Thanks for the smile.

–M16 Crosstown Bus

Announcer on bus (waiting for someone to request a stop): Come on, my line's open. Someone dial my number. Come on, you know the number! (a passenger requests a stop) There we go! Thanks for calling! I knew you would!

–M16 Bus

Overheard by: alli

Posted on December 31, 2008
All Wednesday One-Liners, Bus Drivers, Directions, Kids, On the Bus, Passengers, Port Authority, Prison, Public Transportation, Questions, Stupidity, Time, Upper West Side & Lincoln Center, Weirdness

They've Skipped

Conductor #1 on loudspeaker: Let's call the dispatcher and see if we can skip some stops.
Conductor #2 on loudspeaker: I did. They're not picking up.

–Downtown F Train

Overheard by: Maggie

Posted on December 26, 2008
Cars and Driving, Conductors, On the Subway, Public Transportation

Wednesday Fa La La La Liners

Nerdy middle aged white woman to postal clerk: Yes, I'd like just one sheet of the Disney, and one of the Kwanzaa.

–Cathedral Station Post Office

Overheard by: Emily B.

Woman yelling down a stairwell: Happy holidays to you, ma'am! Hope you choke on a candy cane!

–Central Park South

Overheard by: Daisy Mae

Girl: One morning, I woke up and I thought it was Christmas. Then I went outside and I realized it's not Christmas!

–57th & Columbus

Overheard by: Have a holly jolly Columbus Day?

Irish tourist woman: You went to Macy's? Did you see outside? They have black Santas here.

–Brendan's Bar

Overheard by: Danny

Old guy scanning tickets, singing quietly to self after each bar code beep: Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…

–Madison Square Garden

Overheard by: Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh!

Conductor on speaker: Ladies and gentlemen, we will be arriving shortly. In case you haven't finished your Christmas shopping, feel free to stop by the Metro North booth. You could buy a 10-trip for the kids, a weekly for the wife, or a one-way for the in-laws. Merry Christmas.

–Metro North

Overheard by: Christmas Spirit

Posted on December 24, 2008
All Wednesday One-Liners, Bars & Clubs, Celebrations/Parties, Central Park, Clerks, Conductors, Disney, Family Ties, Food, Foreigners, Girls, Holidays, Madison Square Garden, Midtown & Hell's Kitchen, Nerds, Old People, One-liners, Passengers, Post Office, Public Transportation, Questions, Race, Shopping, Street, Stupidity, Time, Tourism, Trains Not Subway, Travel, Wednesday One-Liners, Weirdness, White People, Women

Hannibal the Wednesday One-Liner

Guy on bench smoking cigarette, on cell: But he has no problem lifting his legs so you can eat his ass.

–Central Park

Cornrowed boy to cornrowed girl: Stop chewing on me!

–1 Train

Overheard by: Kelly D

Random girl showing a picture to friends: I'm eating the baby's head. It's what I do in my spare time.

–College of Staten Island

Overheard by: Nameless

Woman to another with colored contacts: I just want to eat your eyes!

–Elevator, Broadway & 32nd St

Four-year-old boy to teenage babysitter: Oh, yeah? I'm gonna bite your vagina!

–86th & Broadway

Woody Allen lookalike: But buses are so creepy. I mean, what if there are cannibals on the bus?

–14th St & 3rd Ave

Overheard by: or snakes

Posted on December 24, 2008
All Wednesday One-Liners, Ass, Babies, Body Parts, Boys, Central Park, Chelsea & the Meatpacking District, College, Food, Friends, Girls, Guys, Kids, Leisure, On Cell, On the Subway, One-liners, Public Transportation, Questions, Staten Island, Stupidity, Teens, Threats, Union Square and East Village, Upper West Side & Lincoln Center, Vagina, Violence, Wednesday One-Liners, Weirdness, Women

Wednesday One-Liner Pull the Trigger With Their Toes

Cheerful man with baby strapped to his chest: Lets all go stick our heads in the microwave!

–77th & Broadway

Overheard by: rachel

40-something man: They just upped my credit limit to $3,500, so on top of the few hundred I have saved up, I guess you could call me a ghetto millionaire… (later) So she's all depressed and wants to kill herself, says she's gonna jump off something. I told her, "Girl, you live in Duluth. You jump off anything there, the only thing that'll happen is you'll break your leg.

–NJ Transit

Overheard by: He later used my shoulder as a pillow

Girl on cell: What a fucking selfish bitch. I can't believe she did that. I mean, I know she was like depressed or whatever, but you don't just hang yourself at your ex-boyfriend's house. (pause) No, I'm sorry, you don't just wait for everyone to go to sleep, sneak out, and hang yourself so then everyone has to find you like that. What a bitch.

–Megabus NYC

Overheard by: Tina

MTA employee, in between ordering food: They're all jumping on the tracks now. Everybody's committing suicide. They used to wait until Christmas. Now it's every day!

–Restaurant, Kew Gardens

Overheard by: Abbieprime

Posted on December 24, 2008
9 to 5-ers, All Wednesday One-Liners, Body Parts, Death, Ew, Jersey, Girls, Insults, Men, Money & Class, Offers and requests, On Cell, On the Bus, Psychology, Public Transportation, Queens, Restaurants & Cafes, Suicide, Time, Upper West Side & Lincoln Center, Wednesday One-Liners, Weirdness

Spoken Like Someone Who's Never Seen a Cabbie Drive

Daughter: Okay. So we've got to take the n uptown. It should be arriving on this track soon.
Tourist mom: But that sign says the n goes to Queens. I don't wanna to to Queens.
Daughter: Yes, it goes to Queens but we're getting off way before then. It just ends in Queens, don't worry.
Tourist mom: Don't worry?! The sign says the n goes to Queens. And that it's an express! An express to Queens?! I don't think so. Let's just go take a cab…it'll be safer.

–Herald Square Subway Station

Overheard by: vmorgs

Posted on December 21, 2008
Directions, Families, Moms, Public Transportation, Subway stations, platforms, etc., Tourism, Tourists

Public Transportation