A little further off-topic. I knew (well) a mathematician who most of the department thought a bit odd, and he was. If you asked him "how are you?", he would t

A little further off-topic. I knew (well) a mathematician who most of the department thought a bit odd, and he was. If you asked him "how are you?", he would take longer than is usual to respond. I fairly quickly realised it was because he considered that nicety as an actual question and gave a considered response.