> In US people do ask one another "how are you?", perhaps in a shallow way My understanding is that it is not even a question, the question mark at the end is

> In US people do ask one another "how are you?", perhaps in a shallow way My understanding is that it is not even a question, the question mark at the end is just decoration. Even the shallow answer is not necessary, responding with something like, "Hi, good to see you" would be perfectly valid.