Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Saturday Thanks Don't End At Thanksgiving Photo: November 28, 2009
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" It's the fallback question adults aim at kids they've just met, and usually you hear astronaut, president, princess, or maybe pony if the kid doesn't quite get the question. Some grown-ups still don't know what they want to be, but that's OK. This guy has my vote anyway.
Overheard of the Week
Sunday afternoon on the Red line at Metro Center:
An elderly man gets on the train, and a younger guy gets up to let the older man sit down.
A few seconds later, the elderly man says: "I had my 92nd birthday yesterday, and I'm still hung over."
After the jump, college kids, evil plots, and reasonable political discussion.
Overheards! Send them here! overheardindc(at)gmail(dot)com
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Pretty much the first thing I talk to the bus driver about.
On the X8 bus:
Man: "Have you been seeing these TV advertisements for that herbal colonoscopy?"
Bus driver: "No?!?"
Man: "Well, i was thinking of giving it a try. I don't want them putting no scope up there."
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Fine idea, not so fine reasoning.
In a Crystal City office building elevator:
Two men in their late 50s or early 60s are talking.
Man 1: "So I think I'm going to break down and get a Kindle."
Man 2: "Really, why is that?"
Man 1: "Because it's so hard to get a hold of books now."
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Well, considering it was 75 degrees that day.
At the National Gallery Sculpture Garden ice rink:
One ice skater to another: "Oh my god, there's water! There's water here! Why is there water?! It's supposed to be ice, not water!"
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A plot to control the liberal population!?
On U Street, Saturday evening:
Street vendor: "Obama Sunglasses, buttons and condoms... Obama condoms, the change you can feeeeeeeeel!"
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Not sure they grasp the concept
At Saturday's Georgetown basketball game:
Two Georgetown students are talking.
Guy: "Oh my god, I would be the WORST homeless person."
Girl: "Yeah, I don't think I could live without plugs. My iPhone and
laptop and stuff need to be charged, like, every day."
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Parents: Mozart, not Three Six Mafia
On the Red line early Saturday morning:
Toddler with parents: "Chicken head."
Parents: "Shh!"
Toddler: "Chicken head!"
Parents: "SHH!"
Toddler: "CHICKEN HEAD!!"
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And that's bad because...
At Federal Center SW metro platform:
Three young, Hill types are talking.
Guy 1: "I know... He was wearing a banana suit..."
Other guy: (barely audible mumbling/laughing)
Guy 1: "Yeah, we peeked around the corner into the garage and he was in there by himself... dancing around... in a banana suit."
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Reaching across the aisle
Late Saturday night on Orange line at Courthouse:
A woman is talking about her job with Defense Secretary Gates.
Drunk guy on the train: "Fuck you die!"
Female: "Man, you're a dick."
Drunk guy: "What are you, a Republican?"
Female: "Fuck you."
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I think these are the condoms they are selling.
Okay, first of all, Defense Secretary Gates doesn't take the Metro. He lives near Pentagon Row. And second, he almost never uses the "f" word outside of staff meetings and the occasional visit to Baja Fresh.
Was the boy calling his momma a chickenhead? Because that's just cold.
By 'banana suit' did the guy mean 'banana hammock'? Like 'speedo' - or could it have been a full-sized banana-shaped outfit?
Maybe it was GOB Bluth.
yeah, like the guy in the $600 banana suit...COME ON!
Having just seen the Watchmen, I wish that Dr. Manhattan had worn such a garment for more of the movie. That would have been vastly less revealing that what was displayed instead! Boingoingoing
georgetown students = priceless.
I think the last overheard was a woman talking about her job with Sec. Gates, not talking with Gates himself. Or maybe you're just being snide, it's hard to tell with you, monkeyrotica.
Yup, that's right. "Discussing with a friend her job..."
No. "A woman is talking about her job with Defense Secretary Gates." You forgot the critical "with a drunk guy" between "talking" and "her."
And before you say it, yeah, I'm a dick! F**k you!
The drunk guy was just a random guy on the train. Words are hard!
PEDANTRY STRICTLY PROSCRIBED WITHIN THE VICINITY OF THIS TEXT
I'm struggling to find these funny. Perhaps I am too generous a soul, but I imagine these young people saying things like this in a hip/ironic way. "Yeah, dude, where would I plug in my ipod!" sounds like a young person trying to make sense of their world, its absurdity and the rest of it humorous way. If anything, I find it kind of cute. And don't me wrong, I hate those GT motherfuckers. But these overheard remarks...I find it hard to find the right voice to make them satisfyingly mean.
Our resident pedantophile, IMGoph would be proud.
hey, sorry i missed out on the last few days...
"...sounds like a young person trying to make sense of their world..."
You are too kind. Kids like the speaker aren't trying to make sense of their world. Their world is a charged iPhone and laptop. They are at an age where they are very self-centered, and have little if any empathy for those around them. These are those who look at a homeless person and say "get a job" to impress their friends. They will either grow up or become Republicans.
Or, they could buy into the entire idea that living in a gutter and muttering at bugs is a right and a lifestyle that we should artificially prop up by bringing people hot sandwiches and blankets, indefinitely prolonging their harmful choices. Because, you know, we shouldn't be judgmental, and we certainly shouldn't require people that are obviously crazy to get help, and we can't possibly say that the able-bodied non-crazy guys on the corner doing nothing all day but bumming money from strangers are self-absorbed dickheads that will eventually end up living in the gutter at taxpayer expense and great harm to themselves or their families.
But, hey, at least they wouldn't be Republican.
A lot of homeless people do need to get jobs. And drug detox. And mental health treatment. But, no. It's far more important to elevate living in a gutter to a right than it is to actually take steps to diminish the problem.
@over the river
Then what exactly is funny about this? Some kids are clueless? Huh. Not news to me. And not funny. I assume the Overheards are meant to be amusing. If so, I then I don't get it. If you're right about these kids being so out of touch, then I find it demoralizing, but certainly not funny.
However, if these young people have never been face to face with the abundance of homelessness we have, then I am not surprised to hear them say things like that. They don't know what to say, they are scared by it, no one prepared them for it, and the best they can do is to make a joke out of it.
And, for the record, I totally don't understand the "they must be republicans" thing. wow, where'd that come form? I know PLENTY of democratic assholes. Sweet murdering Jesus I do.
"they must be republicans" That part was the joke.
I never thought what the kid said was funny, I do think it is a little sad he has no empathy for those less well off. Also understanding someone doesn't necessarily mean taking on a responsibility to "fix them" either. My comment was simply to observe that the kid most likely wasn't trying to make sense of his world.
Also I think it is important to remember "Overheard" can be funny, ironic, strange, compelling, insightful, or any combination of the above. It doesn't have to be funny; and what the kid said was more ironic than anything else.
I wonder if GOD knows about the people who ride the 30 buses? I ride that bus every day and the things I hear
sometimes makes me loose my focus on humanity. Some of the people are between prison and half-way houses. They talk among each other, yelling and using the worst profanity, and they ignore the rest of the passengers. I couldn't even write the things that I hear in this box without being censored. One girl was on her cellphone telling her friend how lonely she was because all of her other boyfriends had been killed. She said,"
All my favorite men are dead." Every day I ride that bleak bus.
Well, it's a full day later now and I don't care that much anymore. But I still don't hear the "irony" you seem to hear. I hear young people being young and clueless, which isn't a sin. It's sort of cute.
Yeah, I hear ya. I remember being cute, but now I'm older and missing a tooth. That makes me hillbilly cute.