"Hello, how are you ?"
Surely the time has come for people to adjust the way they speak to one another especially complete strangers !!
Whilst it is meant as a term of endearment, do you really honestly care about the wellbeing of that girl at the supermarket checkout or the anonymous voice on the other end of the telephone ??
I think not and it sounds so fake & condescending that it needs to be phased out of our vernacular.
Try listening to talkback radio when they are running a quick quiz, every person who rings up asks the host "how are you" and clearly that person must be okay because the previous six callers in the recent 60-secs asked the same question & got the same answer.
Greeting a friend, stranger or person in business with a simple "hello" or "good morning" should be the minimum level of manners but what should come after that or is there an actual need to further the conversation ??
This would be the first step towards total and utter chaos :P
"What about those Blues, eh?"
You must be from Sydney, walking around Adelaide I can't stop people from talking to me, in fact they talk to anything even the walls! ;)
But if the girl at the checkout is a minor, by the way not all checkout staff are girls, you might find yourself on some unwanted watch list or twitter! :o
It seems normal down here, why is Sydney so different? :D
(Perhaps it's too close to Canberra!)
How are you today Sheik?
Is that the Moir Sisters I hear?
I think that one went something like this :
"good morning how are you, it's nice to see your face"
Our Chief Engineer when i was a young trainee engineer greeting to all the trainees was" how's its going knackers".....if he rang you on the phone it was " hows it hanging champ".....
that's the one... 1974...
The French have also scorned the insincerity of Australian's
If you want a national identity The Sheik is actually onto something.
The practice of "Saying Hello" or "Good Morning" works wonders within large organizations at generating an identity as part of team building. So much so that many organisations now require you to say a "Good Morning, Afternoon or Evening" as well as shake hands with all team members at the start of each day/shift.
A sickening as this sounds to some, it actually works! :o
Did they shout scorn at us as they ran away? :D
Hello, how are you ? Is an ice breaker and a conversation starter. Hello or good morning on its own is simply a greeting. People would simply reply with the same and no real conversation would take place. Otherwise we could grunt at each other a simply wave Sheik. Maybe G'day would suit you better. ;)
"Sup" is all it takes with the young kids vernacular.
The French accusing others of insincerity.... NON! The masters of saying one thing and meaning another.
A young guy who used to work in my department, would walk in each morning and say "Morning Brett", which was fine, as I'd reply with "G'day mate", but then he'd follow my reply with "How are you?".......that robotic auto-pilot follow-up did my head in, to the point that one day I actually said to him: "Mate, if I'm here, then just assume that I'm good, you don't have to ask me every single day".....he never asked again after that & I was happy. :D
Is it similarly frustrating to ask, "how's it going?"
;D I'd argue if I could.....
You need to add a handshake to that routine and it'll sort you out, it's just bizarre how well it works! Must be some sort of fecked up evolutionary thing!
G'day. How ya goin' mate? Orright?
Can't see anything wrong with it. 8)
They're not questions. It's just a greeting. "G'day mate, how's it going?" "Good thanks, yourself" "Yeah, good". [Start conversation].
Agree. Fairly innocuous and inoffensive for mine.
One of the blokes at work greets thus - "How you goin' Ball Bag?" ....it's a term of endearment surely??
I still remember this like it was yesterday.
First English class of year 7. Get introduced to our new english teacher who was in her 50's at the time (this was 20 years ago) and she was rather proper for a public school. She was a stickler for manners, etiquette and correct pronunciation and would always say her h's first when saying words like 'while'. Taught english the proper way - old school.
Anyway, one thing that blew my mind was when she was talking about the correct response to our magical saying "Hello, how are you?"
Despite everyone in the class giving pleasant responses you'll hear on any given day, we were all wrong.
According to 'Miss proper pants' the ONLY correct response to "Hello, how are you?" was in fact the same thing "Hello, how are you?".I'm not sure on what authority she was informed of this, but she seemed certain and was the type of person who would know such a thing. So despite a few people questioning her, she insisted that was true.
To this day i cannot work out why, but apparently its the done thing.
Which leads to the question...Are people asking you that, so you respond in kind and then give them an opening to them to tell you all about themselves and their day? Do we wanna know and/or do we care?
Similar to the above. I know a guy who always wants to talk about himself, but instead of telling you whatever story he's got to tell, he asks you the question he wants to answer. So if he did something on the weekend, he'd ask "How was your weekend?" You'd reply 'Fine' or whatever and feel obliged to ask him about his....leading him into a story you probably don't really care about anyway. "What are you doing tonight?" Means he is excited about something he is doing tonight etc.
I hate that kind of BS/small talk. :-X
It's amazing how many people won't respond to how are you. Especially in stores. I wait for an answer... Usually in a long awkward silence until they clue on that I expect a response :)) presumably that means most people say "how are you?" and just continue with whatever they want to say :))
In fact the correct response for "How are you?" is
"I wouldn't be dead for quids!"
It conveys the impression that you're at the top of your game and nothing they can do can match it.... and at the same time is subtly dismissive and conversation ending if you want it to be. ;)
How about "Sod off"? :D
Derek an Clive did a classic on mailing addresses in their piece entitled " The Horn" that conveys my sentiment on issues that relate to PC.
Here is a transcript not suitable for those easily offended.
http://www.phespirit.info/derekandclive/ad_nauseam_13.htm