Photo by Casey Labrack.

Welcome back to Overheard in D.C., DCist’s weekly column of funny, strange, and poignant things that our readers and staff overhear and send in. We’ve been doing it since 2006, so check out the archives here.

Halloween is upon us, which means it’s a fun time for kids. They get to wear costumes, collect lots of candy (if their parents are normal), and go to a bunch of parties and events. Sometimes, though, they may get distracted.

Overheard of the Week

At a pumpkin carving event sponsored by the NoMa BID, which also featured a small petting zoo:

The petting zoo llama is making a noise that sounds like angry growling.

Boy, about ten-years-old: “Why can’t the llama have any respect?”

After the jump, some only in D.C. conversations, oblivious tourists, and young people.

As always, Real, Original Overheard in D.C. relies on you to submit the good stuff to our special Overheard in D.C. email address. Make sure to tell us who, where, and in what context, too.

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D.C. conversations

In the lobby of a downtown D.C. law firm:

Older, well-dressed lawyer #1: “Grassley is a great senator.”
Older, well-dressed lawyer #2: “Let me tell you something about Grassley. His wife can’t cook for shit.”

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Rightly

In an office the morning after the Giants won the World Series:

A coworker in his 50s comes up to a coworker in his early 30s.

Man 1: “Do you know what happened last night?”
Man 2, after a pause: “I know it was National Cat Day.”
Man 1: “I fear for the younger generation.”

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Not recommended.

Crowded Green Line to Greenbelt at around 5:10 p.m. Wednesday:

A man and woman are arguing, but it’s not clear about what. Maybe that she was taking up two seats and didn’t want to let him sit.

Man: “I just want to say…”
Woman, interrupting: “I just want to say…”
Man, interrupting: “I just want to say…”

A loud, electric buzz sound is heard, perhaps a Taser, like a warning shot, as no one screamed or fell over. The train was quiet after that.

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So brave

Dupont Circle around midnight on the Thursday before Halloween:

Two guys and two girls in costumes approach a construction portable toilet and debate using it.

Girl, insistingly: “It’s okay, I Bonnaroo’d once. I can handle this.”

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Won’t someone think of the small doobie farmers!

In Logan Circle, 5 p.m.:

About eight folks on and around a park bench in the Circle, speaking in vague terms about a certain leafy plant that may be legalized in the District on election day.

Guy 1: “But yeah, that much weight’s got to be worth ten grand at least!”
Guy 2: “Man, you overestimated.”
Guy 1: “What?”
Guy 2: “Sure, that bundle might be worth ten grand today, but just wait until Tuesday! The people gonna make that bundle worth a whole lot less when they can grow it themselves.”
Guy 1: “Shit.”

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America!

On a bus this morning near American University:

College kid explaining Halloween to foreign student: “The holiday is just the one day, but the drinking is all weekend.”

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I am not familiar with this part of the Bible

In Chinatown last Saturday:

Man, yelling: “Wanna know why there are packs of women running round this city, all yelling about how they can’t find a man? I’ll tell you why. Because they won’t shut their big mouths. THAT’s what the LORD says. Amen.”

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Congratulations, you have missed the entire point

At the Holocaust Museum, one on of the entrance elevators which are made to resemble a dirtied rail car interior:

The docent has just finished explaining the exhibits that will be seen, finishing with a reminder that at the end, visitors walk through a railcar used to transport victims, and past shoes and other items that belonged to Holocaust victims. The elevator doors close.

Woman with a midwestern accent, cheerily while laughing: “It’s like a Disney ride! You know, where they tell you a scary story and put you in an elevator?”

The group with her, three men and a woman, nod and laugh. Everyone else looks grim.

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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Two tourists, a mother and high school-aged daughter, are sitting outside the Le Pain Quotidien in Eastern Market. They sit at a table and read through the menu.

Daughter to mother, with an air of confidence: “This is the hippie area of town. I mean, all of the organic, and the markets, and the coffee…”

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OK, this is kind of adorable

In Glover Park on Saturday:

Father and son walking away from Stoddert Elementary School, where a million little kid soccer games are going on.

Father: “It’s called a ‘header’ and the most important thing about headers is not to cry after you’ve done one.”