Two older gentlemen on the R train in Brooklyn:

“See all them ads in Spanish on the platform? They really annoy me.”

“Why? ‘Cause you don’t know Spanish?”

“Yeah, but mainly ’cause I think they’re saying something like ‘Don’t buy this crap we sell the black folks’, buy somethin’ else that’s better.’”

“You really think that’s what they saying?”

“I don’t know, maybe, but they look different and I bet they are saying something different. I don’t know why they don’t just translate the same ads we can read.”

“I know what you’re saying, but white people see them same ads we do in English.”

“Yeah, but they ‘aint tryna’ buy Fubu or Akademiks or eatin’ at Dallas Barbecue.”