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.
We are now also 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 woman overheard on the phone, somewhere in D.C.:
“Why would they have five cop cars? You only need, like, one cop car for that.”
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Nothing more than what it means to be 39
Overheard in the elevator of a Senate office building, one 30-something staffer to another:
“He took the day off to mentally prepare for what it means to be 40.”
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Yeah, Really Into igNOring mass death
Overheard at the White House Visitor Center Gift Shop:
Kid: “Dad, look at this statue of Reagan.”
Dad: (Scoffs) “Yeah, Reagan was a RINO.”
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I’m sure they do
Overheard on Harvard Street in Columbia Heights, where crews have been working for months to flip a townhome into condos. Around 8:30 a.m., as crews drill into concrete, a man walks by.
“Y’all make a lot of goddamn noise, you know that?”
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At our most vulnerable, like moths to a flame
At American Tap Room in DCA, packed with Sunday morning travelers. A 30-ish couple is talking about potential business opportunities.
Woman to man: “I mean, to make money in an airport all you need is a place with coffee or alcohol. You do that and people will come.”
Man nods in agreement.
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Her mind…
At the National Cemetery, a five-ish girl standing with her mom at JFK’s grave site, looking at the stones:
“Mom, is President Kennedy buried round or flat?”
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Because people like wine here, too
Overheard at a Friday evening company happy hour at Proper 21, three women coworkers in their late 20s are discussing the wineries in California, one of them new to the D.C. area:
Coworker 1: “Napa is great, but if you go – Sonoma is really nice.”
Coworker 2: Virginia does have wineries too.”
Coworker 1: Takes a long pause.
Coworker 1: “…why?”
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South Dakota…more going on than you think!
At a bar in Alexandria, a South Dakota resident is talking to a local:
“Yeah, people get South Dakota and North Dakota mixed up. But there’s nothing going on in North Dakota.”
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Shakespeare couldn’t write this
Overheard at a Cleveland Park bar:
Happy hour drunk man 1: “So I’m giving a keynote in a few months.”
Happy hour drunk man 2: “OMG I love Keno!”
Happy hour drunk man 1: “Keynote! Not Keno.”
Happy hour drunk woman: “I’m gonna play Keno in Reno with some Pinot.”
Happy hour drunk man 1: “Okay I need to pee now.”
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As always, we rely on you to overhear the good stuff and send it our way. Make sure to tell us who was speaking to whom and in what context.
Colleen Grablick