A month ago, WFMU radio show hosts Ken Freedman and Andy Breckman asked their listeners to come up with a perfect entry for the Times's precious Metropolitan Diary. (You know: the Monday column that's like a cross between a sanitized Overheard In New York and a sanity-ized final paragraph of a Cindy Adams column). They crafted what they felt was a cutesy New York moment perfect storm — evidence is here, on their blog. Today, a very similar item appeared in the paper of record. Let's compare and contrast!

From Ken and Andy:

As I was heading out of my Upper East Side apartment building to a leisurely breakfast at The Pembroke Room, I happened across a neighbor whose husband is a well-known stock trader on Wall Street. Her darling 5-year old son had overheard Daddy on the phone with a client, and was quite concerned. "I know Daddy sells things at his job," he remarked with consternation, "but why oh why did he say he would SELL MY SHORTS!?"

From the Times:

As I was heading out of my Upper East Side apartment building to a leisurely breakfast, I happened across a neighbor whose husband is a well-known stock trader on Wall Street. Her darling 5-year old-son had overheard Daddy on the phone with a client, and was quite concerned.

"I know Daddy sells things at his job," he remarked with consternation, "but why, oh why, did he say he would sell my shorts?"

We only wish they'd found a way for someone involved in this anecdote to fail to miss a beat, but you can't have everything.

Overheard on WFMU [Seven Second Delay]
Dear Diary [NYT]

Earlier: Metropolitan Diary: Just The Punchlines