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by Sevii 3431 days ago
When you meet someone you often say things like: "Hey how are you doing? or "How is it going?" These phrases are not intended to be literal questions but are actually used to gauge the other person's feelings towards you. From their tone and the length of their response you can determine whether they want to expand the relationship or are indifferent. These meaningless phrases are actually an important part of social interactions, despite having no apparent meaning.
1 comments
stevekemp 3430 days ago
This is culture-specific. As somebody who moved from Scotland where "How are you doing" has only one socially-acceptable answer "Good/Great/Fine" I'm now in Finland.

If you ask a Finnish person how they are, they will tell you.

I regard this as refreshing, honest, and interesting.

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Jemmeh 3429 days ago
I want to move to Finland just for this, haha.

People here (southeast USA) like to ask this question as they are walking by. There is absolutely no way to answer in an honest way, you just have to say "Good, good." or something like that. Furthermore, since you're walking by it's still awkward even to say "Good, you?" I've always found it really weird. If you just want to say hey, say hey! Hello. Greetings. Salutations. Don't ask me a question as you're walking away. :v

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Jtsummers 3429 days ago
Also in the southeast. I've started answering honestly (to a point). And when I ask it I stop first and face the person. It's actually a very difficult habit to get out of once you've started. Similar to removing verbal tics such as "like". The hardest part is the mindfulness required to acknowledge it's even happening.
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Jemmeh 3429 days ago
Personally I only ask it if I'm already stopped and facing someone. At work, so many people are walking by me at a very fast pace and just quickly shoot this question at me. I answer, "Good, you?" and hear a "good" in the distance as they are already 10 feet away, and it's always felt super awkward.

Totally fine in the breakroom as we are in line to get coffee/water though.

But yeah, people probably just don't think about it much. I understand it's just a greeting to them.

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stevekemp 3429 days ago
The language is a nightmare, the winters will kill you, but those two minor flaws aside it's a nice place to live and I am enjoy the process of settling in.
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