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Insincere greetings

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T

TR6BILL

Luke Skywalker
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Do any of you have a problem with insincere greetings? I know it can be problematic to say hello to or greet someone that you might know or seldom see. The one around here that seems most prevalent is "Good to see ya!". (When I know they don't mean it.). I always try to come up with an orIginal greeting but can tend to be rather caustic. Like "Eat sith and ......."

What say you?
 
Have a nice day. :cooler:
 
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My old Granny always responded to "how are you" with a detailed account of her ailments. I suppose she took the greeting at face value. :rolleyes:As for me? I just say Hi!!

Stuart. :cheers:
 
.....How are you.....

'good for an old man'

or

'still vertical'

or

'not bad - you?'
 
Around here we often get, <span style="font-style: italic">"What's going on?"</span> (but the greeter is not seeking a reply).

If you do this correctly, you are supposed to say <span style="font-style: italic">"What's going on?"</span> back.
(also, without expecting any reply as to what exactly <span style="text-decoration: underline">is</span> going on).

It's not intended to be insincere (I don't think), but it always seems awkward.

In a way, I guess it's like <span style="font-style: italic">"Que pasa?"</span> or <span style="font-style: italic">"Wie geht's?"</span>.

My preference is to just say <span style="font-style: italic">"Hey Bob"</span> (or whatever the person's name is).
 
My replies vary. From: "Doing well, and you?" when face-to-face, to a terse: "Adequate" en passant.

This always reminds me of the (W-B, ISTR) cartoon of the two dogs as sheep minders, clocking in/out in a pasture.
 
Sometimes you <span style="font-style: italic">do</span> want to know the persons ailments. Take yesterday for instance, I had some laser surgery on my retina. Doctor walks in and asks how I feel. I said fine, more importantly, how do you feel. Hands shaking because you need a drink?
 
"Surviving" or "peachy" are my choice responses.
 
Hey, Bill - where y'at?

:laugh:
 
Got asked this yesterday: "How are you?" I said Well, I got out of bed this morning, stood vertical, recognized my surroundings so I guess I'm just fine.
 
My brother counters "How are you?" with "Why? What do you know that I don't?"
 
aeronca65t said:
When someone would ask my old boss <span style="font-style: italic">"How are you doing?"
</span>
....he'd say:

<span style="font-style: italic">"No use complaining.....nobody listening anyway."</span> :laugh:
Click to expand...

I'm partial to (after a long pause) "I'm not sure" (because I usually don't know)... or "routine."
 
I don't have a problem with mindless greetings of the "How are you", "Fine, and you?, "Fine" variety.

But I also think folks should actually listen to the response. I still remember a phone call I had from a customer years ago telling me that he thought my boss was strange. The customer had called for me and my boss answered. The exchange went something like this...

Boss: "Hello <customer name>. How are you?"

Customer: "I have a rotten cold".

Boss: "Good, good. What can I do for you?"

I also have a friend who I see about 3 times a year. Every time we meet the greeting is the same:

Her: "How are you doing"

Me: "Fine. How are you?"

Her: "Good. And how are ~you~ doing?"

Me: Something polite to break out of the question loop.

Actually most of my contact is by phone these days, with people I talk to often. They're on speed-dial, we all have caller-id, and the greetings are usually something like "Hey", to which the other responds "What?" and that's it.

All that said, however, I think most greetings are "perfunctory", not insincere, and they don't bother me.
 
Heres one for you all to try. When parting and the other person says "Well you have a nice day or have a nice day." The normal reply is "You too" if you say "You too" that is always the coversation ender. Try to remember to say "You also." instead, and you will nine times out of ten get another comment from them.
 
Mickey Richaud said:
Hey, Bill - where y'at?

:laugh:
Click to expand...

Actually, Mickey, it's "Where Yat, chumutha!"

In South Louisiana, the standard greeting, and usually well intended, is "How'syourmomandthem?"
 
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