Innocuous conversations that you have overheard that have stayed with you...

[drownininplaymobil]

When my dc were pre-schoolers, I was in some toilets in a church, wrestling various small humans with their pants/handwashing etc.
A student (I think) came in and said to her friend "My hair felt weird so I thought I'd come and have a look at it in the mirror".
I can remember at the time wondering when the last time was that I had time to look in a mirror other than when I was brushing my teeth. And slightly resenting the fact that this gorgeous young thing had the freedom to just saunter about noticing how her hair 'felt'.
Such a small throwaway comment but it really stuck with me. Anyone else?

I embarrassed myself with 'Milngavie' once. Never again as its pronunciation is now engraved on my brain.

A little girl of about 3 skipped out of the cafe toilets back to mum. “Nanna wants a sticker!!! She’s in there having a poo!!!@

At a celebratory meal around a large table of strangers, “Daddy’s left the handcuffs at the side of the bed”. She meant his cuff links. 😳

SinkGirl; you’re kind of right, I think. The state of Arkansas is pronounced Arkensaw but there is actually an entirely different place in the state of Kansas, called Arkansas City (pronounced the same way as Kansas)

I only discovered that myself this year. I think it’s something to do with the French developing Arkansas state. And the English developing Arkansas City.

On a tram in Manchester and two girls about 7 or 8 are sitting on a double seat across from us (in front of their parents). One starts reciting all the stops on that line from a-z then looks at the other, who is ignoring her. She recites them from z-a but is still ignored. Goes from a-z then says "I'm going to carry on until you take notice of me" and does z-a again. She's halfway through a-z for the 3rd time when the other one says "ok, ok, well done!" The smug look on the girl's face had us in stitches

He is seemingly trying to sort out her meds. Then she gets emotional and says "I love you so much, you know". And he says, "thank you"

That's made me tear up 😭

Great thread.

In the shop CEX a man was in the long queue talking to his wife on the phone trying to describe where he was in an extremely loud voice 'Love, I am in the sex shop, yes that's right, the SEX shop... yes SEX....'

The staff and most of the queue were struggling not to laugh.

@scrivette In fairness, he's right though. We've always pronounced it C - E - X in our house. It wasn't until we saw the TV and, that we realised it's pronounced SEX. We're sticking with our way.

problem is that is how they say it on the advert i mean whats wrong with calling it CEX?

A few summers ago we were visiting a well known and almost perfectly preserved neolithic fort in Ireland and in awe of the amazing construction techniques to have made it stand solid for thousands of years. A group of American tourists turn up and, after a few minutes, one complains loudly about it being a “rushed job” with “poor construction” before leaving after a cursory look around.
‘A rushed job’ has since become a euphemism for any stunningly preserved historic site that we visit!

I was on holiday and the people in the flat next to our Air BnB came out and one shouted "but why did you get tasered".

Why did he get tasered? Why???? I need to know

Overheard two older women in a supermarket. One said to the other, a lot of these microwave things you only have to put in for 30 seconds so I can’t buy them because the lowest setting I’ve got on my microwave is for a minute

Someone approached em in teh street and asked for directions to the pub called

Al Barone ee

I wasn't sure where it was and they showed me the phone. It was

All Bar One

Walking past my house I heard a mum shouting at her little boy angrily "hurry up...and stop walking like a gaylord"
The little boy sounded about 3 years old.

Why did he get tasered? Why???? I need to know

Damn it, now I need to know

Years ago (1980s) there was a television series Tutti Frutti with Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson, set in Scotland. I remember a radio interview with her about that time. She was describing preparing for the role, partly by going on local buses and listening to conversations, one of which (between 2 women) was ‘so I looked him straight in the eye and I said, “get that thing oot a my body“’.
Still cracks us up 30 years on,

Standing in a queue at the chemist, there’s a boy of maybe 3 or 4, standing ahead of me, holding onto a buggy.
While his mum was talking to the pharmacist he turned to me and smiled, then leaned towards me and said, almost whispering “Mummy said no hitting and no kicking and you can’t say F and S in nursery”
I smiled and nodded, but didn’t know what else to do or say at that moment.

On the bus coming home from work sometime last summer.

Your typical mouth almighty male teenage schoolboy going on and on about going to a Drake concert in a very show-off manner.

One of his fellow students had enough of this monologue of monotony and exclaimed.

"Mate, it's a big venue, thousands of people in the dark. He won't even fucking know you're there."

@stoneofdestiny - I’ve found saying “no I’m Scottish” when overseas often got me better service!

@matterhornmadness - non locals pronounce it with every syllable balt-eh-moor but that’s not how locals pronounce it so even other Americans are spotted as non local with that one. It’s a strange one as there’s also a variety of pronunciations depending what part of Baltimore you’re from so the locals can even tell that with each other fascinating area with regard to linguistics

“How on earth do English people pronounce it?” (Ecclefechan) 😂 I’ve heard all sorts! Eccle they usually manage fine although I’ve also heard it pronounced ecklee or eclé, fechan - that’s where they get stuck. It should be fech with that soft digraph which English people can’t really do, but I’ve heard “feck” “feek” “fake” and the “an” they sort of cope with as it should be simple but when they’ve muddled themselves up over the previous syllables even that can go out the window and end up “en” or “ayn”

It’s hilarious!

But then there’s place names and peoples names I struggle with.

“Mind you we have silly pronounciations in England too like Althorp and Towcester.

See also "John Menzies" and "Dalziel & Pascoe"” Exactly!

I’m Scots of Irish descent and we’ve some crackers in the family in terms of both peoples names (and nicknames - took me way longer than it should have to twig that “wee ‘eck” in ‘oor wullie’ was Alexander despite there being a “big ‘eck” in the family!

I find names (people places objects) absolutely fascinating!

Loving this thread! DH and I used to regularly listen in to a group of young ladies, who were PAs in the (financial) City, chatting on our train journey from Walthamstow into Liverpool St. Most of it was fun stuff, what they were doing at the weekend, who was going out with who etc,

I think my favourite was the one where one of the PA’s bosses made her wash his car...

@scrivette My OH has always called it the sex shop. I, on the other hand, always said C-E-X shop, as I remember the original Computer EXchange shop chain.

Overheard a woman telling a man off saying "why do you always have to argue with her?" He replied "I can't stand the bitch, she's got a mouth like a camel's cunt!" 🐫

@Bamb1

Dry?

@TeetotalKoala
Big lips maybe

A few years back in a supermarket I heard one older woman say to her friend, “He looked like a cross between Shrek and Vladimir Putin.”

Who? WHO looked like that? I need to know.