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Funnily "How are you?" used to be an actual question in the UK. The shift to it being a generic greeting you don't answer is relatively new and I think an ameri
by ck425 5y ago
Funnily "How are you?" used to be an actual question in the UK. The shift to it being a generic greeting you don't answer is relatively new and I think an americanism. I remember having the same reaction when I went to Uni 11 years ago, It was a Scottish Uni but something like 15-20% of students were american. They'd ask that passing by and I'd stop to answer leading to several awkward encounters.
That said even when it was a question it was expected that you replied something along the lines of "I'm good thanks, you?". Unless it was a good friend you never replied negatively, though if you had good news it was fine to expand.
- vidarh 5y agoI absolutely think you're right that it's an Americanism. I actually worked at Yahoo in London when I started noticing it, about 18 years ago, and the office was full of Americans and they were most prone to using it. > That said even when it was a question it was expected that you replied something along the lines of "I'm good thanks, you?". Unless it was a good friend you never replied negatively, though if you had good news it was fine to expand. Yeah, that was my expectation as well - the answer needs to be adjusted to how close you are, and so it's mostly relatively perfunctory. But occasionally you get more detail than you bargained for.