Three Conversations Between Mothers and Daughters
Overheard by me, in a department store, standing near a woman and her teenage daughter, both with heavy Jamaican accents:
Daughter: (pointing at a shirt) I wan’ dis one!
Mother: I don’ tink dis wil accomodate yah boobs.
Overheard by my mom, from a public restroom stall in Annapolis:
Mother: Emma. Empty your bladder.
Daughter: Yes, mommy!
Overheard by me, on a walk during which I found myself behind a woman and her six or seven year daughter (the woman was walking a small mutt, the girl was wearing a purple dress and walking a St. Bernard that was taller than her.):
Daughter: Mom, do you ever wish you could fly?
Mother: If you could fly, where would you go?
Daughter: Treasure island. [Long pause] If dogs had wings, where would they go? [Long pause.] Oh wait, they wouldn’t fly because they wouldn’t know how to. Get it? [Laughs loudly]
Thing is, I think Scott and I have had this exact conversation.


I think I will now always talk in a Jamaican accent just so I can say things like, “I don’ tink dis wil accomodate yah boobs.”
I heard this between a father and a son. I was in a bookstore in London and the father selected a book for the child to read. I didn’t see which book it was, but I overheard in the most precious English schoolboy accent, “But, Daddy,” he protested, “it’ll take a fortnight to read that book!”