I'm not LISTENING, I can't help that I can hear you.

Washington-type ladies

Older, educated,Washington-type lady "This Imus thing-so, when he called them 'H-O' (and yes, she spelled it out) he meant what?

Middle aged, well spoken, Washington-type man next to her "It's black vernacular. Sometimes they use this term"

Washington-type lady-"So they call themselves this?"

Washington-type man-"Well, no."

Consensus:

Washington-type man spells it out:
"If you're a true liberal you're against it either way--slurs AND censoring speech."

Well, I find myself again at Panera. It's just easier on me-I don't want to explain it, it's really not that complicated. I have decided that I am going to begin my own private little 'overheard'
( http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/ ) . The places where I find myself will certainly not offer the diverse, unique and sometimes jawdropping conversations that the streets, bars, parks and trains of NYC do. Despite the ethnic and cultural diversity of our nation's capital (and its metro area), the population is surprisingly homogenous in thought, word and action.

Their vocabulary is littered with buzzwords and isms such as:

'you're hiring the ideas' (as opposed to the person)

'furthermore'

'if you want to lose your spirituality, join a religious institution'

beginning every sentence with 'so'-whether is makes sense or not ( "So, ok-we're going to leave")

replacing 'like' with 'sort of'

saying 'to whom' instead of who (proper grammar is so pretentious :) )

(more to follow, the pools of Panera are pretty shallow)

I am on my computer, my head down again, clicking away and one of the women sitting at the table next to me has her back turned to me but glances over her shoulder periodically. She does this as if to say, you're not listening in, are you? My silent reply to her is -if you are going to talk in public- you are going to be overheard. I don't care what you are saying, I am just waiting for you to say something stupid.

After a bit, they leave and I am left with a blur of conversation from the table to my right. I am suspecting that they are not concerned with me at all. Maybe it's because my eyes are crossed and I am tapping away. Maybe it's because they are speaking Chinese.

~Aimee