• Hikermick@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Fun fact: in America asking “how’s it going?” is just a greeting, nobody really cares

    • Agent641@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Brits ofen say “You alright?” As a substitute for “Hi.”

      Pretty jarring when you’re not used to it. Id think “God, I must look like shit if they’re genuinely checking on my welfare!”

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Yeah Tom Scott did one of his linguistics videos about that, he had a word for it but some questions aren’t really questions they’re basically just rituals, though rephrased a different way makes them genuine questions, and when you have major dialects of the “same” language like British and American English, we use different ones. “Are you alright?” is basically a noise of greeting in Britain and an expression of genuine concern in America, while “How are you?” is the reverse.

        • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Chinese version 你吃了吗 or variations on that, although it’s not used so much anymore. Literally means “have you eaten”, except it doesn’t really require an answer. I imagine it came up in that video, but it’s a good one.

          • batmaniam@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Literally means “have you eaten”, except it doesn’t really require an answer.

            Grandmothers in every culture

      • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        When I moved to London, I remember the old lady at the laundromat addressing me as “love”

        I was like: “Damn, over here my charm even works with old ladies”

        As it turns out, calling somebody “love” it’s just a way of addressing people in some English regions.

    • Thteven@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Won’t stop us from having a conversation or even just bitching about something that is randomly bothering us.

    • Monument@lemmy.sdf.org
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      4 months ago

      I always respond thoughtfully to people I don’t like. Then I ask how they are and watch them squirm.

        • Monument@lemmy.sdf.org
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          4 months ago

          It me!

          Which is also probably why I give this answer. Because it irks me to some degree that we just throwaway important questions like another human’s well-being.
          If someone responds without being tripped up, I sorta know they’re my kind of person.

          • shneancy@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            oh same haha, if someone asks me a question they’re getting the answer, i don’t care that they expected a “i’m fine”

            • Monument@lemmy.sdf.org
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              4 months ago

              I just realized that I contradicted myself. I said that I use this with folks I don’t like, and then that when I use it, if someone responds well, that I know they’re my kinda people.

              I don’t exclusively use it with folks I don’t like! I also throw it out playfully. It’s validating when folks respond in-kind.

    • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      It’s really like that everywhere, in my experience.

      It’s at most small talk, not a license to dive into one’s life story.