Best snippet of overheard conversation

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Very late, last Christmas eve I passed a phone box and I heard the man inside suddenly shout:
"I'll get the fuckin' Russians onto you!"

DavidM, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

For all you New Order fans out there:
New Order fan (at Reading '98) to unconverted friend: "New Order? They're like...GODS!"

DG, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Returning to my pseudo-poncey public school, I walk past a bunch of ~12 year olds having a heated argument:

"That is a spatula in the shape of a Swedish butter knife."

Graham, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

On the bus I heard a guy ranting and yelling, "Emo? She thinks she's EMO? SINCE WHEN IS SHE FUCKING EMO? She thinks she's punk and she's not punk or emo, she's just a fucking wannabe...." That was funny because the kid who said it is, to my knowledge, not a punk either.

maria, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I wouldn't say this was particularly funny or positive, but I once saw a German woman tell Nazi jokes to a group of Frenchmen in a library. They nodded glumly. It was almost Pinteresque.

Magnus, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

New Order? They're like...GODS!

Um, are you sure that wasn't me?

Richard Tunnicliffe, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

If you were near me at Reading '98, possibly.

DG, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Today i heard this at the drug store
kid Excuse me
me Yes
kid I kinda need help
me im not the pharmacist
kid i know
me okay what do you need
kid condoms kid can you get me some
me okay

anthony, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Bending the rules slightly - heard on Kilroy this morning:
KILROY (for it is he): What is it about Seattle?!?!?
FAT BLOKE (being serious): Well, it's the music, isn't it? Hendrix, the Stone Roses, people like that.

DG, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"Yes, but it always ends in masturbation".

The speaker - My ex.

Overheard by - the entire pub.

Trevor, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Sounds like a nice girl..........

Ronan, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

As you may well know, inpassing.org is all about this. My favourite:

"Dammit, would you stop being so PC? It's not stereotyping to say that gay men aren't attracted to women, it's a fact..."
--A girl having a heated conversation at an early hour outside my window

Nick, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Since there is somethign vaguely voyeuristic about all this:

A folk singer named Damien Jurado (whose own work is spotty, at best) recently released a CD that consists solely of messages from answering machine tapes he found at Thrift Stores. Not sure about the legality of this, but there is something oddly fascinating about them -- particularly one from a man left on the machine of a woman who had just broken up with him.

Joe Keyes, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

sorry

Nick, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I can't get that inpassing.org site to work. Every single link I click on just brings up the same purple page.

Croooooow, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Ah, wait a minute... it was just my connection fucking up. As you were.

Croooooow, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"I think like a squirrel", spoken by a sandal-wearing goth sitting in a tree.

Otis Wheeler, Thursday, 6 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

one year passes...
overheard by me and matos yesterday in boston.

"you're newly single? wow, i'm newly single too"

gareth (gareth), Sunday, 13 October 2002 19:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

Behind me at a Rembrandt exhibition:

She: I used to think I quite liked Rembrandt, but then I decided there was too much brown.
He: I quite like the Impressionists.

I wondered by what means they had found themselves together at a Rembrandt show.

Similarly, when I went to see the movie The Elephant Man:

He: Oh, Anthony Hopkins. He's very good. He was in Psycho, you know.
She: Ooh, you don't half know a lot about films.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 13 October 2002 20:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

Overheard on a bus. One (elderly) woman describing to her friend how her husband had been busy with DIY all weekend, and had helped her with hanging new curtains :

"It was awful. He spent all weekend screwing up them pelvises!"

(I *hope* she meant 'pelmets')

C J (C J), Sunday, 13 October 2002 20:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

http://www.murphguide.com/overheard.htm ...ahhh, drunk people talking

, Sunday, 13 October 2002 22:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

I always try to record these on my mini-disc. One funny one I recorded in NYC was some girl yelling on a cell phone: " I was like fuck, your on fire, and he didn't even know how he was on fire, and he was running all around"

A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 13 October 2002 23:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

and I heard my next door neighbors the other day. As I was walking by, two of them were out in the hall, and one was holding the other back, who was raging mad, and he said "He can't steal my spells."

A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 13 October 2002 23:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

i haven't got anything funny to add to this that i can think of jus yet, but can i jus say it's 3.01, i'm in manchester very drunk and this thread is the funniest thing i ever read on ILX. god love you people. all o yers.

actually though, now i think about it, kinda cheating, but in alan bennet's book 'writing home' he quotes one man in a donkey jacket shouting at another likewise dressed in the street saying
"look, there's NOTHING you can teach ME about road-sweeping..."

piscesboy, Monday, 14 October 2002 01:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Look, I shag you, and I buy you chips. What more do you want?"

Sofa King Alternative (Sofa King Alternative), Monday, 14 October 2002 08:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

Guy talking on his mobile in my street a few months ago:

"Armed robbery's a very serious offence, you know!"

MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 14 October 2002 09:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

Quoted by Kenneth Williams in his Acid Drops collection, two students late one evening:
"The conversation was rather precious wasn't it?"
"Yes. But I fancy I kept my end up."
"Oh, indeed; but if you don't mind my mentioning it, Botticelli isn't a wine."
"Isn't it?"
"My dear chap, it's a cheese."

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 14 October 2002 10:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

In the pub last night:

"Yeah so i got the money, got all me mates round to celebrate... Fish and chips all round, strawberries and champagne, you know, the works!"

STeve.n., Monday, 14 October 2002 14:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

one month passes...
In the seedy Post Office down the road, there was this limpy guy slumped over the counter taking all of his money out. As he was waiting, wondering what epic stuff this guy must get up to in his spare time, I heard him use the words "the court case", and talking about allegations and how it dragged on for 2 years. But he was withdrawing his last £41 of compensation.

He's my favourite person of the day.

Graham (graham), Friday, 6 December 2002 16:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

This morning I heard a couple of yoofs on the train planning a scam on J-D Sports in Croydon tonight. Something about getting 3 pairs of shoes in 1 box, paying for them on a credit card and then returning one pair. One of them was the inside man. Should be going down right about now.

Simeon (Simeon), Friday, 6 December 2002 16:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

Little kid in zoo: "I wanna see the tigers!"

Mother: "If we wanted to see tigers we would've visited daddy at work"

Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 6 December 2002 23:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

There have been so numerous golden moments on Seattle buses that I could have captured, had I had the vision to buy a portable mini-disc recorder and compact mic.

donut bitch (donut), Saturday, 7 December 2002 00:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

Today, outside my house, one 12 year year old to another: "I'm gonna overload on your mum's tits".

Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Saturday, 7 December 2002 01:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

Five-year old boy at Borders, pointing at a Harry Potter cardboard display: "That's my boyfriend!"

Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 7 December 2002 06:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

Guy @ a Boston Bruins game in the Fleet Center, walking back to his seat, snack in hand: "Yo, they got ice cream up here in this motherfucker!" (I'll let y'all stick in the Bawston accents where applicable.)

David R. (popshots75`), Saturday, 7 December 2002 08:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

Overheard by a mid-twenties woman in a bar where I was meeting a female friend of mine. I snuck up behind her and before she saw me...

Me : Hey darlin' we got a lot in common...I'm not wearing a bra either.

My friend turned around knowing it was me, while the lady next to her turned around and said "You Pig!!!" and slapped me...I guess she thought I was talking to her, because she really wasn't wearing a bra...

B, Saturday, 7 December 2002 08:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

Overheard tonight:
"I can't believe you're going to cheat on me with that schmoe!"
"I'm _not_ going to _cheat_ on you!"

Douglas, Saturday, 7 December 2002 08:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh man, this is the best! I was sitting down at the beach and two approx 12 year old boys came towards me, one plump, one thin.
The thin one says: 'How old is she?'
The plump one: 'Twelve, I think.'
The thin one: 'Is she skinny?'
The plump one: 'Not really.' (Fade out of earshot.)


maryann (maryann), Saturday, 7 December 2002 08:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Is that the Vengabus?"

One sloppy drunk guy noticing the arrival of a packed police van, Central London, New Year's Eve, 1999.

Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Saturday, 7 December 2002 10:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

one month passes...
Man walking up Caledonia Road talking into his phone - "I've had enough of this schizophrenia bollocks. He thinks he's Jesus now for fuck's sake! Jesus this, Jesus that...[recedes into distance]"!!!

dave q, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 19:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Hague - Amsterdam train, young male student to mates - "Guess who I've been listening to? Jimi Hendrix! Yeah I know, normally I don't get into music for old pricks but Hendrix is actually not that bad you know."

stevo (stevo), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 20:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

in Cambodian Cusine, Ft Greene Bkyln - "omigod it seems like EVERY country has a Southern problem"

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 20:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

Overheard at the shop around the corner from me...

"Martin, why are you being so defensive?"
"Yeah, yeah...well why are you being so OFFENSIVE?"

Michael Bourke, Tuesday, 14 January 2003 21:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

overheard outside my office building, where a gaggle of suits were congregating for some reason:

"today i feel like an indispensible cog in the machine"

fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 21:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

two women in the next couple cubes, recently:

1: hey
2: what?
1: you know who really needs a haircut?
2: who?
1: Michael Bolton.
2: yeah, you're right.

g.cannon (gcannon), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

no sorry fuck it wasn't Michael Bolton it was Kenny G. My deepest and sincerest apologies for that most embarrassing gaffe.

g.cannon (gcannon), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's the way you tell 'em.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 14 January 2003 22:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

My girlfriend in a restaurant flirting with waiter young enough to be her son:
Did you ever see that John Wayne movie where he took _____ (sorry, can't recall her name) over his lap and spanked her? Don't you think that looked like fun?

I slid under the table I was laughing so hard (and I was in a different booth)! Wish I could recall whether she took him home that night.

LCD (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 07:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

In pub:

Woman behind bar:"You should try Gingko Bilboa, it's fantastic!"

Incredibly drunk guy covered in paint: "Will it give me a huge rectum?"

Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Sunday, 19 January 2003 20:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

three months pass...
Two gangsta-ed out 20 something males:

Man 1: You listen here. If they made me a decent looking woman, you know what I'm saying, it'd be perfect. I already understand guys.
Man 2: Fuck you are so right.

??!

Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:38 (twenty years ago) link

Skipping 376 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

"Cubs... cubs... cubs... CUBS?"
"Cubs."

mea nulta (onimo), Friday, 1 May 2015 15:17 (eight years ago) link

one month passes...

I didn't realize it was that serious. Of course he was always making jokes about how she had "water", but...

how's life, Monday, 8 June 2015 19:04 (eight years ago) link

one month passes...

Male State Department Guard (loudly): ... buy a lot of alcohol and then drink Gatorade on the beach all day!
Female State Department Guard (disinterested, staring at her shoes): Oh yeah?
Male State Department Guard: Yeah, that's how you do it. You gotta forget your troubles, forget your problems!
Female State Department Guard: Forget about this place?

how's life, Thursday, 30 July 2015 19:49 (eight years ago) link

Reading that I was hoping FSDG would say "And go downtown?"

nickn, Thursday, 30 July 2015 22:01 (eight years ago) link

three months pass...

Walking out of ballet tonight, I won't do the accent:

"In Russia, is something similar. Is called Wampyrs ball. Is totally music only by Bonnie Tyler, is exact like this we have seen tonight but with wampyrs."

Not gonna lie to you I would totally rather have seen the Russian bonnie tyler wampyre wersion, and that statement us never not gonna be true whether I'm talking ballet or breakfast cereal.

MONKEY had been BUMMED by the GHOST of the late prancing paedophile (darraghmac), Sunday, 15 November 2015 01:41 (eight years ago) link

a few weeks ago i passed two people standing outside a bar who were in the middle of what looked like a fairly intense debate. they quieted down as i walked by; a minute later, i heard one of them say, "it's only because the OTHER animals don't know how to milk the cow!"

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Sunday, 15 November 2015 01:49 (eight years ago) link

one year passes...

(At Mcdonalds)

"Hi Chris, can you ask someone to please sanitize that table over there. We were just at mass and we're wearing our mass clothes. Yeah, could you please ask someone to sanatize that"

Week of Wonders (Ross), Monday, 25 September 2017 03:41 (six years ago) link

Two businessmen today walking by us

"Nipple cream"
"Nipple cream?"
"Yeah they all have it"

Had to confirm with herself but yep that was the exchange

passé aggresif (darraghmac), Monday, 25 September 2017 23:02 (six years ago) link

ten months pass...

guy at service canada employment next to me

how do you sign in
i dont even know how to sign in
ugh
sigh
rinse cycle repeat

eris (Ross), Thursday, 2 August 2018 20:26 (five years ago) link

one month passes...

i used to be able to put a time to things, but now i cannot
like i try to think of when my surgery was and i cannot even remember
like what are time lines, i mean i remember when you kids were born because there was a date
and a reference point, but now i dunno

sweetheart of the Neo Geo (Ross), Tuesday, 25 September 2018 17:48 (five years ago) link

five months pass...

you dont have to pay so much rent at your age you can just have sex

~mine own~ bitcoin (darraghmac), Monday, 11 March 2019 20:19 (five years ago) link

i have a website about myself

( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 11 March 2019 20:20 (five years ago) link

middle-aged couple ahead of me in line at the grocery store: "are we getting enough toilet paper for this food?"

Simon H., Monday, 11 March 2019 20:22 (five years ago) link

one month passes...

They need to realise I'm an ARTIST not a researcher

Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Thursday, 18 April 2019 15:05 (five years ago) link

killing is her art

she was about to paint her masterpiece but was obliged to research it first so there may be a knock on effect in terms of delivery

fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Thursday, 18 April 2019 15:08 (five years ago) link

two years pass...

Nina has a very unique, very grounding energy in a group of people.

ledge, Friday, 1 April 2022 20:35 (two years ago) link

"I've enjoyed the last 19 years"

Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Friday, 1 April 2022 20:39 (two years ago) link

four months pass...

We're always in Birmingham for Ocean Colour Scene. It's the only reason we come to Birmingham.

dear confusion the catastrophe waitress (ledge), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 14:09 (one year ago) link

two months pass...

The person in front of me in the bus queue this evening was talking on their phone in a language that I don't speak. Except for one sentence in English: "Trust me, I hate every inch of this godforsaken place.". It took a lot of self control for me to not burst out laughing. Because England is a godforsaken place.

Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Thursday, 27 October 2022 17:57 (one year ago) link

To be perfectly honest I'm not sure who was the bride and who was the groom.

ledge, Thursday, 3 November 2022 14:30 (one year ago) link

two weeks pass...

Overheard on the bus.

"How's your leg these days?"

"Up and down."

Oh wouldn't it be rubbery? (Tom D.), Tuesday, 22 November 2022 17:18 (one year ago) link

Sometimes side to side

Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 22 November 2022 17:31 (one year ago) link

one month passes...

"I'm straight. I play 3lv3n C0nqu35t." (don't Google the un-Googleproofed version of that - it's some dodgy hentai game)
On the bus, said by an 18 year old Andr3w T4t3 worshipping idiot. It took all the physical self control I had not to burst out laughing.

Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Monday, 16 January 2023 18:38 (one year ago) link

two months pass...

we decided that as well as the skiing in winter we had to do tennis in the summer so now we're looking for a tennis club for the boys near barcelona. nice and warm.

ledge, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 23:07 (one year ago) link

in a bathroom:

"It's ok, I'm not offended that you're doing drugs in there"

hootenanny-soundtracking clusterfucks about milking cows (Neanderthal), Thursday, 23 March 2023 00:34 (one year ago) link

We're always in Birmingham for Ocean Colour Scene. It's the only reason we come to Birmingham.

― dear confusion the catastrophe waitress (ledge), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 14:09 (seven months ago)

Poor Birmingham. It doesnt deserve such slander.

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Thursday, 23 March 2023 10:19 (one year ago) link

Two girls behind me in high school math class: "Does it make me a slut if I'm only easy with one guy?"

can i play with march madness? (PBKR), Thursday, 23 March 2023 13:03 (one year ago) link

middle-aged couple ahead of me in line at the grocery store: "are we getting enough toilet paper for this food?"

― Simon H., Monday, March 11, 2019 4:22 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is amazing

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, 23 March 2023 13:08 (one year ago) link

my favorite one of these was at a show once in college, i think at irving plaza, armchair critic gives his verdict on the band to his buddy: "too much mumbo, not enough jumbo"

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, 23 March 2023 13:09 (one year ago) link

He was in one of those Soviet places, not quite Soviet, like Turkey or Turkmenistan or one of those. We can’t get you home they said, but we can get you to Germany

They took him to Kazakhstan overnight, and everyone gave him a weird look. There was only one car.

Then they flew him to East Germany and from there to West Germany

Tow Law City (cherry blossom), Friday, 24 March 2023 13:12 (one year ago) link

ah i missed a bit out

Tow Law City (cherry blossom), Friday, 24 March 2023 13:12 (one year ago) link

He was in one of those Soviet places, not quite Soviet, like Turkey or Turkmenistan or one of those. It was Hungary, thats it

We can’t get you home they said, but we can get you to Germany

They took him to Kazakhstan overnight, and everyone gave him a weird look. There was only one car.

Then they flew him to East Germany and from there to West Germany

Tow Law City (cherry blossom), Friday, 24 March 2023 13:13 (one year ago) link

I was having to type so fast into textddit to try capture what I could, there was more but i couldnt get it fast enough

Tow Law City (cherry blossom), Friday, 24 March 2023 13:16 (one year ago) link


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