Saying hello to friends
What do you do when you meet a person who you know?
What do you do when you meet a person who you meet your friend? Do you say hello to them? Do you talk with them when you meet them while you are going somewhere?
I’m expecting positive answers to that question. Yeah, it’s awkward not to say hi to friends when you meet them. However, I found one thing that was quite unfamiliar to me. Sometimes, people don’t say hi. They just look at you and nod once, or do somewhat gesture (especially men). But still, I adjusted to those gestures pretty quickly. The one which I couldn’t get used to for a while was ‘questions’.
The phrase which I hear the most when I meet people is ‘how are you doing’. When I first came to the United States, this was so unfamiliar to me. At first, I answered pretty specifically such as ‘I think I am doing well these days’ or, the literature thing that you learned in elementary school, ‘I’m fine. Thank you. And you?’ It didn’t take so long to figure out how I was supposed to answer. It’s easy. ‘Good. How are you?’
The one question that I completely couldn’t figure out how to answer was ‘What’s up?’ I didn’t have any idea what the person was asking or what I was supposed to say. To find the answer, what I did was this: ask the same question to same person. So I did the same thing to the person who said ‘what’s up’ to me… However, he told me an unusual answer; ‘Hmm I’m up to midterm and reports…’ From then, I did the same thing what the person did; which is to tell everything that I have to do. Later, I heard that people usually say ‘not much’ for the answer. Yeah, that kind of answer is what people expect from you. Furthermore, people don’t expect more than that.
As a new comer, the simplest thing, saying hello to people can be confusing. But, don’t put too much meaning on that. When someone say ‘how are you’ and just pass by, people who are not friendly with US culture can get annoying feeling. But I guess that is the U. S. culture.