I would like to expand this a bit. Acceptable responses to "How are you?": "Fine, thanks." - Tells the asker that you may not be up for conversation. "Doing

I would like to expand this a bit. Acceptable responses to "How are you?": "Fine, thanks." - Tells the asker that you may not be up for conversation. "Doing well, and you?" - Tells the asker you may be up for some conversation. "Well, you see, last week..." - Tells the asker you've had little social opportunities in a long while and he's staying around for a bit.