Margit’s Note: What Did You Just Say?

By Margit Detweiler

There is almost nothing that we can share with anyone — or anyone can share with us — that we haven’t already seen six ways from Sunday on our social feeds, the news, the TV or a phone alert.

My husband and I will be laying in bed in the morning with our iPhones (I know) and I’ll say, “Did you see the…”

He’ll interrupt, “Yes. I saw the BBC dad, Kate McKinnon as Jeff Sessions and what Trump said about….”

Sigh.

It’s depressing. Like, I want the glee of being the first to share Tank and the Bangas’ brilliant, innovative tunes with you.

“Please, I knew about them, like last week.”

Sigh.

But there are still a few things in life that get shared the analog way, mouth-to-mouth, ear-to-ear; things people say in private; things we overhear walking down the street. Like the time that random person walked by my husband and me on a Brooklyn sidewalk, leaned in and just quietly muttered, “Asshole.” (We still debate the intended recipient of that moment.)

And who doesn’t want to share a moment like that?

This week, we honor those tidbits of gossip and one-on-one, in-person conversations with our OVERHEARD issue, including re-sharing stories from our accidental franchise “Silly Things People Say to Me When…”

Enjoy the chatter:

• How I Avoid Gossip in a Small Town
• Why Being a Gossip Columnist is the Best and Worst Job You’ll Ever Have
• Silly Things People Have Said to Me When I Tell Them I’m Not Having Kids
• Silly Things People Have Said to Me When I Tell Them I Don’t Want Pets
• Silly Things People Say to Me When I Tell Them I’ve Finished Chemo

I hear you,

Margit

(Photo: Mindshare.org)

Originally Published March 14, 2017. Updated June 29, 2021.