Thursday, March 26th, 2009

[JonPorobil]

I could have sworn I made this thread before I left for work this morning... oh well.

All week, I've been feeling kind of crappy upon waking up in the morning. I think it has something to do with the changing weather. I power through it and go to work anyway, but every single day this week I've considered calling in sick.

I've been thinking about the scene in American Beauty, where, after the emotional (anti-)climax of the film, Mena Suvari's character asks Kevin Spacey's character, "How are you?"

After a brief moment of reflection, he realizes, "God, it's been so long since anyone has asked me that." I don't know about all the other people who've seen the film, but I feel bad for him in this moment.

Question of the Day: How are you?

[nyjm]

I'm doing well, thank you. How are you?

You know, I actually get asked this all the time, for two reasons:

1) I live near Atlanta. As stereotypical as it may seem, people actually tend to be more polite here - at least more open than in the North (I'm thinking of Central PA and Pittsburgh, where I lived for 7 years and Buffalo where my grandparents live). It's okay to smile at strangers as you pass and everyone always greets each other. The "How are ya?" isn't perfunctory - people expect and appreciate a response.

2) I work in a Foreign Language department that has a really great atmosphere. So: 2a) we all tend to like each and 2b) we come from, or have immersed ourselves in, cultures that find proper greetings and leave-takings important.

Let me tell you, it's really nice.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Hi Jon. I'm up here.

[fluffy]

a bit tipsy

spud's in town

[Billy's Little Trip]

I get the impression that when Spud is in town, tipsy is on the list. My kind of guy!

Fluffy, do me a favor. When you're sitting next to Spud, take a really big wiff of him. Like, you were sniffing for truffles. When he says, and he will, "what the fuck, fluffy"?....tell him BLT made you do it.

[HeuristicsInc]

yeah, around here (maryland) it seems like a lot of people won't answer you if you ask them how they are. rude! if ya didn't want to know, don't ask - there are ways to greet without asking a question you don't want to hear the answer to. blah. anyway, i'm sleepy. not getting enough sleep. other than that, good. how are you, jon? (i know you already answered but it seems you appreciate being asked)
-bill

[rone rivendale]

Here in Kansas people say 'How are ya?" all the time in passing but no one ever replies. Well, I do sometimes but when I say "I'm alright, how about you?" they just keep walking. lol

It's become another version of hello, or hey, or what's up.

[fluffy]

Fluffy, do me a favor. When you're sitting next to Spud, take a really big wiff of him. Like, you were sniffing for truffles. When he says, and he will, "what the fuck, fluffy"?....tell him BLT made you do it.

But I already do that

[Eric Y.]

people say 'How are ya?" all the time in passing but no one ever replies. ...
It's become another version of hello, or hey, or what's up.

When I get asked, I usually interpret it as merely a greeting. Normally my standard response to "Hey, how are you?" is "Hi." I don't mean to say it, but it always comes out. To the best of my knowledge no one has ever mistaken my greeting for a homophone, but it may have happened from time to time.

[ujnhunter]

I think the problem is that we each have our own way of greeting someone, and automatically reply without thinking too much about what the person originally said to us... we just know that they have greeted us and therefore greet them back. Our brains don't process it completely.

[Eric Y.]

Sort of like when the hostess brings you to the table and says, "Enjoy your meal," and you automatically say, "thanks, you too"

[JonPorobil]

Me, like every day:

Q: "Hey, what's going on?"
A: "Pretty good, how about you?"

[Reist]

qotd: not well, in pretty much any respects. I'll probably write a bunch of songs tonight and hopefully I won't go insane. Life pretty much sucks right now.

[Billy's Little Trip]

qotd: not well, in pretty much any respects. I'll probably write a bunch of songs tonight and hopefully I won't go insane. Life pretty much sucks right now.

Write some country songs.
Kidding, hope things get better, Andrew.

[Chadderandom]

This woman thats married to one of my cousins, I rarely see them, maybe every 5 years, since they live in a different state, every time I see her she always says "How are you Chad?" in a cheerful voice and it sets off a bizarre chain of events where my head pops straight up like I just woke up startled, I get this goofy smile on my face and practically yell "Good!" back just as cheerfully, hug depending on our locations to each other, since its usually in a parking lot and there might be parked cars in the way and it takes me a minute to adjust and get back to normal because it always catches me off guard and gives me this adreneline rush of hyperness or happiness or something.

Anyone else says that or any variation of it and I just shrug or say whatever random thing pops into my head like "I don't know, what can you do." or "Why, what do you want?" possibly with a smile but definitely not as cheerfully. I think maybe she's the only person who ever sounds like she might actually care but it happens every time and every time its like, whoa, what just happened? Like an involuntary action that was beyond my control. I guess she's Pavlov and I'm her dog.

Here in Kansas people say 'How are ya?" all the time in passing but no one ever replies. Well, I do sometimes but when I say "I'm alright, how about you?" they just keep walking.

Oh, man, I got the walking "Hey, how are you?" once... well, maybe more than once from people I didn't know, so I knew they weren't really interested in anything I had to say, but there was this guy I knew walking towards me and he said "Hey, Chad, how are you today?" and I thought, like, he was coming over to have an actual conversation but he was only heading towards me because he had to walk around something and when he got to the end of that something, he just turned and kept moving, while I was trying to tell him something and I probably stood there for a minute with my mouth wide open shocked at the disrespect that just happened.

It does make me curious, if people aren't paying attention to the meaning of words in greetings, if I could just start saying things like "Hey, have you used the bathroom today?" but with my luck people might be paying more attention then I'd want them to be and then I look weird for wanting to know about their bathroom habits or worse yet, they might stop and tell me about their bathroom habits.

[PlainSongs]

Someone's use of "How are you?": a great indicator of their grooviness or lack thereof.

[JonPorobil]

It does make me curious, if people aren't paying attention to the meaning of words in greetings, if I could just start saying things like "Hey, have you used the bathroom today?" but with my luck people might be paying more attention then I'd want them to be and then I look weird for wanting to know about their bathroom habits or worse yet, they might stop and tell me about their bathroom habits.

I once ushered an evening event at my high school. Gave programs to everyone as they walked in. I told every single person who walked in, "Good morning!" At 9:00 P.M.

Only two or three noticed.

[Steve Durand]

My usual response to someone who says "How are you" as a greeting is "As good as could be expected under the circumstances"

[fluffy]

I usually just say "adequate."

[ujnhunter]

"Not too shabby"