We all do it. In a quiet moment in a public place, sitting on a bench, or walking in a crowd by ourselves, we listen to snippets of other people's conversations. It's not eavesdropping - it's just the brain registering the small bit that we hear as someone passes by us or we pass by them. As a writer, I particularly like hearing these snippets. I can build entire characters and plots around them. And sometimes, they just make me laugh. And sometimes they make me ask, "WTF?" So, I thought that periodically here on the blog, I'd share an overheard snippet. Here's one from the past week.
Last Sunday, I went to a movie with some friends. I got there early, and they got there late, so I had a little while to sit on a bench in the lobby by the front doors and listen as people walked in to go to their movies. One of the things I heard:
"It's 50 cents. I think I'll be fine."
Probable meaning: It was a matinee, and the price was $6.50. One guy only had $6, and the other guy, the one who spoke, spotted him the extra 50 cents. The first guy wanted to pay him back.
Alternate meaning: The guy who spoke was trying some kind of kind of party trick in the parking lot and he swallowed two quarters, which lodged in his throat. He began to choke, and the other guy tried to give him the Heimlich, but before he could help the speaker expel the quarters, the quarters unstuck themselves and traveled down into the speaker's stomach. The other guy has told the speaker he should go to the emergency room.
Ya never know.
1 comment:
Or, maybe maybe they were theologically discussing just exactly how many sins one should be able to "get away" with (if that is the way they think, I'm assuming) and the guy said, "It's fifty SINS, I think I'll be fine."
He could be a winner, you know!
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