How are you..??

This is what we ask the till clerk at the shop or the petrol station attendant or the usher at the movies or when we do a cold call over the phone.. The invariable answer is ” I am fine thanks and you “..

Is ” How are you ” a Greeting or a Question..??

If it is to be considered a greeting can we not just greet saying Hello or Good day or something that doesn’t sound like a question..

If it is a question, then are we really and truly concerned about how a stranger is and what is happening in his or her life..?? If by chance the answer from the other person is ” i am not good and i am suffering from such and such and such ” are we really going to do something about it..??

Of course, if we ask that to someone that we know has been sick or going through a trauma or had some problems, that would be a different story altogether because then we may be genuinely concerned and might want to actually know how that person is at that time..

In some cases i have seen people being forced to answer this question.. A friend of mine underwent this whereby we were at a shop and he just said ” Hello, please can i have xxxxxxxxx ” to the till clerk to which she asked ” How are you ” and my friend was forced to respond with the cursory ” I am fine thanks ” and then continue with the business.. This made my friend guilty because he didn’t enquire about the well being of a complete stranger, although he did greet her with a Hello..

So in this case, is the ” How are you ” a real question or just an issue of manners in the eyes of the clerk or a greeting..??

There are variations among countries as well.. The Arab way of greeting probably is the longest that i have seen where they first exchange greetings and pleasantries then enquire about your health, your family’s health and other related matters before they get to actual business..

In SA , the ” Howzit ” seems to outweigh the ” How are you “.. I have noticed mostly a ” Howzit ” being said as a greeting , to which a response could also be a ” Howzit ” or a ” sharp (means its all ok) ” or the person could carry on with the business at hand without actually waiting for a response..

So should the ” How are you ” be classified as a greeting or the most rhetorical question of all time..??

Filed under Category: culture, life, manners, people and Tags: culture, Howzit, life, manners, musings, people, Rhetorical question by manaadiar || Date : 10th August 2011 ||