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. Check out the archives here.

We can’t have Overheard in D.C. without your submissions! Email your Overheards to overheard(at)dcist[dot]com and don’t forget to include who was talking, to whom, and in what context. 

Given the state of the world after more than a year of a pandemic, we are now taking submissions for eavesdropping on video conferencing calls and all of the other newfangled ways we’re staying in touch.

Overheard of the Week: 

A plane is deboarding at DCA after coming in from Boston. A woman is visibly confused and speaking with the flight attendants:

Woman: “The pilot said welcome to Washington…are we not in Washington?”
Flight Attendant: “Yes, ma’am, we’ve landed in Washington, like Washington, D.C., not the state.”
Woman: *stunned* “Oh no…oh no”

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But there ARE spoonbills! 

A family is visiting Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Northeast D.C. on Saturday afternoon. A crowd has gathered to look at a great blue heron sitting in one of the ponds: 

Young child: “Flamingo!”
Child’s mother: “There are no flamingos in Virginia!”

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The grass is always greener

Two 20-something women are in downtown Takoma on a Friday: 

Woman 1: “So you’re actually living the life right now that I wonder if would make me happy.”
Woman 2, deadpan: “Oh, really. Unemployed, living in California, doing whatever I want.”
Woman 1: “Well, maybe not every aspect of it.”

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It’s really just a number

A group of three teen girls are chatting in downtown Silver Spring:

Girl 1 to her other friends: “He was old… I think he was 50 or maybe 80.”

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Staying hydrated

Overheard at the outdoor bar at Ketch 22 in North Beach, Maryland:

45-year-old woman: “I love water. Especially frozen. And surrounded by bourbon.”

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Well this got dark