Son : We’re gonna get robbed and raped down here, we should have taken the bus.
Father: You only say stupid things.
Mother: Just hit him.
Son: Let’s get off at the next stop and take the bus.
Mother: Put your iPod away before those black guys try to rob you.
–Subway, near Battery Park
Overheard by: Mike Hunt
Black NYU boy: For some reason, every Asian here has a rice cooker.
Black girl: Why?
Black NYU boy: I don’t know, I guess because they’re Asian.
Black girl: That’s so stupid. I’m black, but you don’t see me with a chicken fryer.
–8th St & University Pl
Overheard by: yo mama
Hasidic Jew: Excuse me, sir, are you Jewish?
Man: Yes.
Hasidic Jew: The Messiah is coming soon. [To black woman:] Excuse me, ma’am, are you Jewish? I was just kidding.
–2 train
Overheard by: the rat
Ghetto chick: We gotta take down the white man, one at a time.Like that one!
Ghetto guy: I don’t know. He’s mad tall.
Ghetto chick: You right, you right. We’d need mad rope.
–2nd Ave & 67th St
NYU chick : Wait, he’s 28!
Friend : Yeah, I know. And he’s Asian
–Uptown 6 train
Ghetto girl #1: My boyfriend, he’s ghetto, you know.
Ghetto girl #2: Ghetto how, like ghetto ‘Can’t bring him to a work function ghetto,’ or ‘Ghetto, can’t bring home to mama ghetto’?
Ghetto girl #1: Definitely ‘Can’t bring him to a work function ghetto…’ And ‘I can’t bring him to mama ghetto.’
Ghetto girl #2: Yeah, he’s ghetto.
Ghetto girl #1: Yeah, but we are too.
Ghetto girl #2: No we’re not! Hey, where are you going, we were supposed to go into the Gap.
–34th & Broadway
Overheard by: kate
Jappy Teenage daughter: Daddeeee! I want you to get rid of sweat.
–50th & 8th
Overheard by: Lord…
Black woman on cell: I don’t like big, Black, aggressive men. I like light-skinned men, cause I’m Jamaican. I just found out I’m Jamaican like five years ago. My mom told me the guy who I thought was my father is not my real father. But you know, I don’t hold nothing against him. Dude paid child support and shit.
–Queens bound 7 Train
Hoochie with baby: As soon as he came outta me and I saw what color he was, oh no, I knew who his daddy was. But I love the shit outta my son.
–R Train
Little girl: When I don’t want to listen to my dad I just say ‘Talk to the hand!’
–Wooster St & Spring St
Little kid in stroller: Dad, is this us?
–Inside subway car on NYC subway IRT line at 34 thst stop
Overheard by: Steve Grant
Chinese guy: Hey, now that you’re here we can go to Sylvia’s in Harlem and get some soul food.
Black guy: What do you mean, "now that I’m here"? What, you can’t go to Harlem by yourself, but now that you’ve got your token black you’re safe? That’s fucked up.
Chinese guy: Let me ask you something: would you go to Harlem alone at night?
Black guy: OK, that’s not the point.
–Chinatown
Overheard by: Ricky
WASP: Do you know if they’re putting on an express train for the US Open?
Tourist: Um, no, but that’s where I’m going, too.
WASP: I know, that’s why I asked you.
Tourist: How did you know that’s where I’m going?
WASP: Because you’re white. Why else would you be going to Queens?
–7 train, Grand Central
Overheard by: Tennis Fan
Woman on cell: When you assume, you make an ass of yourself.
–4th Ave, Brooklyn
Overheard by: Mark
Hipster: Yo, what’s up with Filene’s Basement? That shit’s on the top floor!
–Union Square
Overheard by: Hobo Whisperer
Tourist: Is that the Enron building?
–Times Square
Overheard by: Robyn
Tourist to security guard: Are these all originals?
–Impressionist Gallery, the Met
Overheard by: j-diddy
Female tourist: I could never live in Central America because I’d miss the ocean.
–Restaurant bathroom, Little Italy
Overheard by: Olia
Girl looking at subway map: What about that thing, that star–“You are here”? They don’t have that?
–(Moving) uptown 1 train, 59th St
Overheard by: Jo
White hipster girl: Is black semen black?
–86th & Park
