this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2024
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[–] Hikermick 42 points 5 months ago (6 children)

Fun fact: in America asking "how's it going?" is just a greeting, nobody really cares

[–] Agent641 15 points 5 months ago (2 children)

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!"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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 5 points 5 months ago

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

Grandmothers in every culture

[–] Aceticon 2 points 5 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 9 points 5 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] shneancy 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

be advised: this will not work with the majority of neurodivergent people

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

depends on the part of America. in some rural areas no but in the city absolutely

[–] Aceticon 1 points 5 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.

[–] Knossos 1 points 5 months ago