Pink-haired woman: Have you noticed how all the celebs are totally dying their hair? It just looks so damn fake! I just want to walk up to them and say, ‘Your hair looks like a chem lab exploded on it!’ And then I would, like, get an autograph.
–Broadway
Hobo: Look, this ain’t my hair! I am part of the Homeland Security, and the alert color today is orange for ‘High alert.’ Now, how can you be both high and alert? That’s why this country is so fucked up! Have a nice day!
–L train, 6th Ave
Overheard by: pchace
Ghetto woman: Now, where did my son get to? I’m done payin’ and he still runnin’ around… I gotta go fix my hair — it looks like I just killed someone.
–Grocery store
Old man: I don’t like ugly, fucking-hairy women. I just don’t — it’s a matter of taste! Good grooming — it’s the key to success, baby! Ugly, hairy women… They’re everywhere!
–Connecticut Muffin, Prospect Park stop, F train
Overheard by: Sarah McLellan
Guy: Keep the money coming, people! I got three kids at home, and they all want Timberlands! I accept baby food, hair weaves… I even take weed, if you got it!
–2 train
Overheard by: jil
Guy on cell: If you want a shitty haircut, you come to me!
–Smith & 9th St station
Overheard by: Matthew Sahd Mohammed
Archive for February, 2007
Non-Consensual Wednesday One-Liners
Guy on cell: Hell yeah, I’ll go rape Eminem!
–33rd St, Astoria
Overheard by: Christine
Drunk girl: If you rape me with that stuffed animal again, I’m gonna hurt you!
–6 train
NYU Student: It is hard to rape a tree.
–715 Broadway
Hobo: You cannot rape women! It is illegal!
–12th St & 4th Ave
Overheard by: sober eavesdropper
Woman: Why do you always have to start with gang rape?
–82nd St & West End
Overheard by: Mosteen.
Girl: Did you read the New York Times? The elephants are, like, raping the rhinoceros!
–Silver Center, NYU
Overheard by: Genevieve
Wednesday One-Liners Now Get Rollover Minutes
Chick: So, my friend called me yesterday and said, ‘I called you because I had diarrhea and it made me think of you.’
–Starbucks, 110th & Broadway
Overheard by: Fudd
Frustrated man: You call me back and I’ll tell you where the food is!
–23rd & 6th
Girl on cell with ex-boyfriend: Wait a second, I don’t get good service here. Let me go outside so I can yell at you.
–Loehmann’s, 16th & 7th
Yuppie dressed as hipster: Hey. Oh, sorry I didn’t call… So, yeah, I was in a kidnapping today…
–Bleecker
Bus driver over intercom: And to your right you will see a sleazy motel. If you notice any cars that look familar please give a quick call home.
–Q46 bus
Wednesday One-Liners Are Unincorporated Territory
Woman: Come here, sweetheart! You lousy fucking Puerto Rican scum!
–4th & MacDougal
Construction worker to another: Come here, I’ll buy you some food ’cause you’re my man. What, you want Puerto Rican food? They’ve got Puerto Rican food here.
–Burger King, 46th St, between 5th & 6th Ave
Overheard by: Duncan Pflaster
Suit: Have you ever been to Croatia? They treated me like a god just for being Puerto Rican.
–M31 bus, between Madison & Lex
Dude: Nawww, don’t go to Puerto Rico. It’s just like New Jersey!
–Outside Caliente Cab Co.
Wednesday One-Liners Have to Go
Lady on cell: Trust me, this is the one time you can pee on a woman and not totally demean her.
–Grand Central
Well-dressed woman holding a McDonald’s cup that her son, pants still around his ankles, pissed into: Nice job, honey.
–14th & 6th
Girl in back row: I really like the new LIRR trains. I never pissed in the old ones, but I licked one once… Oh, and I pissed on the floor of a new one… Yeah, I did.
–Fordham University, Lincoln Center
Overheard by: Wishing my Physics Final Started 5 min’s ago
Pissing hobo: This piss is for Mike Bloomberg. Ahhh, yeah.
–Barnes & Noble restroom, 82nd St
Wednesday One-Liners Should Be in Foster Care
Security guard to another: … So if you really want to take a gamble you buy a baby.
–Lobby, Psych building, NYU
Woman on cell: … And then he said he gonna kick mah baby ‘cross the street!
–Union Square
Overheard by: what??
Guy on skates to chick: … And these people, they eat their babies…
–West Village
Overheard by: Joe is So Friggin Amazing
Chick on cell: So, she trusted this woman to watch over her baby, right? And then she takes the baby to the zoo for a photo shoot and comes back with the wrong baby!
–Grocery store, 8th St & Ave C
Man on phone: So, what? You don’t want me to be in the baby’s life anymore? … Well, you know what? I did your sister! [Hangs up angrily.]
–Starbucks, 66th & 3rd
Lady: So I said to my sistah, ‘I ain’t goin’ to spend my weed money on your baby’s diapers!’
–Fulton Mall
Crosstown Wednesday One-Liners
Driver: Some people want to go to work, some people want to go home, some people want to go into your pockets… Watch for pickpockets.
–B44 bus
Overheard by: Katia
Bus driver: This is the express bus to Boston. We’ll arrive at 10:00, 10:30, whichever is earlier.
–Port Authority bus terminal
Bus driver: Happy New Year’s everyone. This is the New Year’s bus. I hope someone is looking over my roasted pork chops in the oven back there. I got some collard greens and potatoes cookin’ as well. Let’s get this bus movin’.
–101 bus, 68th & 3rd
Overheard by: Sashanyc
Bus driver who wouldn’t let anyone pay to get on, claiming she’d won the lottery: Nice day today, huh? Y’all wanna go to the beach? Bring a blanket? Three p.m. — meet me at a secret location. MTA going your way! They won’t mind if I take it for a few hours. Madison is next.
–M79 bus, 79th & 5th
Overheard by: mar
Bus driver to boarding passengers: If you have a name that starts with a letter, move to the back of the bus.
–86th St crosstown bus
Overheard by: Hannah Rose
Wednesday One-Liners: ‘That’s What She Said’
Biology professor to students: Now that you’ve got the basic structure, I’m going to bone you for a while.
–NYU
Overheard by: i’m in the hard class
Conductor: Okay, folks, we’re actually running ahead of schedule. We’ll be stopping for approximately 40 minutes, so if you like you can get out and spread your legs. Spread your– stretch your legs…
–Amtrak train into Penn
Overheard by: KT
Woman on cell: It’s from the car accident. I can’t really move my head, and he woke up stiff this morning, and that never happens.
–5 train
Overheard by: Hobo Whisperer
Woman: Maggie has stopped eating. She’s just not putting as many things in her mouth as she used to.
–Union Square market
Girl on cell: Hey, Mom. Hold on a second, I’m gonna three-way Dad… Oh, wow, weird.
–Jamaica Station
Overheard by: Mike
Guy on PA: Hey, Mark, could you do me a favor? Just put it in, please? Yeah, I need you to put it in right now. Thanks, Mark!
–PATH
Overheard by: Ferocious Russian
Wednesday One-Liners Ignore the Bloody Hand
Little old lady to little old hubby: Fuck you, Dick, I am not crossing against the light! I can’t do it. Fuck you!
–Houston & LaGuardia
Overheard by: Almost peed on myself from laughing
Little tourist to mom: We are jaywalking, yay!
–Outside Sak’s
Overheard by: also jaywalking
Guy on cell: … So it’s fucked up, nights in the city. Everyone jaywalks, and they all wear black… Shit, good point! Blacks! … Yeah, you get a black guy wearing black, jaywalking — that’s a perfect storm of trouble! … I dunno, but I bet it has something to do with why insurance is so high…
–Broadway & Bleecker
Two guys cross street on ‘Don’t walk’ signal as car is coming.
Traffic cop: Hit ‘em! Hit ‘em!
–35th & 5th
Overheard by: mike
Loud grandma tourist blocking crosswalk: What’s the matter with these people?! Why are they crossing the street? Can’t they see the ‘No crossing’ sign? Where do they think they’re going?
–Times Square
Tourist woman to crowd of pedestrians: No, don’t cross! Here comes the big red hand!
–51st & 5th
Overheard by: Micaela
Wednesday One-Liners Are Excellent Drivers, Excellent Drivers
Man to woman and her friend pushing a stroller: Listen, Jeanie, you like my sperm, and I like your car. I’m sure we can make a deal.
–60th & Central Park South
Firefighter after getting a call: Hey, boss, how many one-way streets do you think I can drive down the wrong way?
–Pathmark under Manhattan Bridge
Overheard by: tj
Midwestern woman in preppy clothes sticking head out passenger window of sedan: Excuse me, we’re trying to merge…
–Waiting to enter Lincoln Tunnel
Overheard by: Angela
Homeless musician with Casio keyboard plays entire intro to ‘Oye Como Va,’ then sings: Oye como va, ba da da, blah blah blah blah blah! [Abruptly stops] Well, ladies and gentlemen, that’s what you get for not having a car.
–L train to Williamsburg
Overheard by: Subway Goer